Tulsa today, Jacksonville yesterday
by ponygurl51090
Summary: I know this has been done before but it's about these two girls myself and a friend who decide to watch the outsiders one night but then fall asleep during the middle. When they wake up the next morning they are in Tulsa in 1966 and they meet the gang.
1. Tulsa, Oklahoma 21 miles

This is my first Fanfic so it might not be very good but oh well, here it goes.

"So what are we going to do when we get to your house?" asked Tori on the way home from school. "I don't know. What do you want to do?" I

asked. This was a game Tori and I always played. One would ask 'what do you want to do?' and the other would say 'I don't know, what do you

want to do?' It would continue for what seemed like hours on end when in reality it was only a couple of minutes.

Tori is my best friend. We've known each other since the forth grade. She has long, dirty blonde hair with brown eyes. She's about 5'5. She

always has this goofy looking grin on her face but that just the way she is. She's what some might call quirky. She totally loves horses and

rides them now more than ever. It's her outlet to her parents getting divorce last year. It wasn't easy on her and most of the time I had to

be her shoulder to cry on (which I didn't mind at all!).

As for me, I am really tall (about 5'11 that is). It's funny to see tori and I together because she's so short compared to me. I have short

brown hair with natural red highlights and a few blonde ones added in along the way. I quiet most of the time but I can't really help that. I

have this disease called Soto's syndrome. It this disease that makes me grow really fast and have a few emotional problems. There's other

symptoms to but they're not all that common. The disease it self isn't that common.

Anyways, when we got back to my house, tori and I decided that we wanted to watch a movie. "What movie do you want to watch?" asked tori.

"I don't know. Let's look in the drawer and pick one out" I said, gesturing to the draw that was on the bottom of my dresser. I had this

drawer in my room that my friends and I often call the movie drawer because it's packed with movies. "There's too many movies here. Maybe you

should

pick I mean it is your house" said Tori.

"No, you're the guest. I insist."

Tori just gave me a look that said "just shut up and pick one." So I did. I picked The Outsiders. "What's that about? I don't think I've seen

it" said Tori. I explained to her that The Outsiders was based on a book and is about this group of teenage boys who live in Tulsa, Oklahoma

and about all of there troubles that they go through. Tori said that it sounded boring and that we should pick another movie but then I added

the part about the murder and the church fire and all the hot guys in the movie and all of the sudden she was interested.

So I popped the DVD into the DVD play and we were about half way through the movie when my mom came in and told us that it was getting late

and to go to bed.

"Now? But I was just getting into the movie" whined Tori.

"We can watch it while we try to fall asleep. Maybe we won't fall asleep until the movie is over" I suggested.

"Well, ok" said Tori. Tori and I climbed into our sleeping bags in front of the TV and tried to finish the movie though. Unfortunately we

only got to the part where Johnny dies. We didn't get to see the rest.

I awoke the next morning to the warm sun on my face which was strange because I don't remember falling asleep next to a window or anything.

As I laid there peacefully, thinking about the dream I had had the night before, I rolled over and felt grass on the other side of my

sleeping bag. Startled by the feel of the grass I jumped to my feet. I was some where's outside. I looked around me but all I could see was a

road and some fields. Nothing looked familiar to me. I noticed that wherever I was, Tori had come with me. She was laying right next to me,

just like she was when we fell asleep. I shook her as hard as I could to get her to wake up. She hit me on the head and said "quit shaking

me, damn it, I'm awake!"

"Tori, wake up!" I yelled.

"What?" Tori was really upset about the fact that I woke her up.

"Look around you! I have no idea where we are!"

Tori quickly jumped up and took a look around, just as I had done minutes before. "Where are we?"

"Somewhere outside, I guess."

"I knew that. I meant what city or state are we in?"

I looked around for any sign of where we were. I saw a billboard off in the distance. "There's I sign over there" I pointed to the sign to

show tori where I was looking, "maybe that will tell us where we are."

"Good I idea." Tori and I rolled up our sleeping bags and made our way towards the billboard. The sign was a lot further away than it

appeared to be. It took what seemed like forever to get there. "My feet hurt" complained tori. "Maybe when we find a town we can get you some

shoes and some directions."

"Directions to where?"

"Back to Jacksonville. Back to Florida."

"Well maybe we are in Jacksonville. Maybe this is clay county or something. You know clay county can often times be mistaken for the

country." Tori was right. Maybe we were in clay county and I just didn't recognize it but then again I've been over there more times then one

would wish and this didn't seem like clay county to me.

"No" I started "I don't think this is clay county. Besides, if we were in clay county, how do you think we got here? We can't drive plus we

were asleep last I remember."

"Look!" tori shouted, "it's the sign." Tori ran up to the sign almost as if it were a person and she was greeting it. She stopped dead in her

tracks once she got there. "What's it say!" I shouted from where I was along the road.

"Tulsa, Oklahoma. 21 miles." 


	2. Sodapop and Steve

Disclaimer: Sorry I forgot to put this on the first chapter but I don't own The Outsiders. I only own the two girls.

Here's the second chapter. Hope you like it! Thanks to all the people who reviewed!

"Tulsa! What are we doing in Tulsa! How did we get here? I mean, last night we fell asleep in Jacksonville and this morning we're in Tulsa, Oklahoma!" Tori was starting to lose her cool which is weird because most of the time she keeps it together pretty good.

"Well Technically, we're not in Tulsa. We're 21 miles outside of Tulsa" I said as I approached her.

"Don't get smart with me!"

"Just stating a fact."

Tori glared at me for a minute and then said "what are we going to do? How are we going to get back home?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should go into the city and see if we can find anyone who can help us."

"Why didn't I think of that?" asked Tori.

"Maybe 'cause I'm the one who always comes up with the good ideas" I said as we started our long walk towards the city.

Tori just glared at me while saying "oh, shut up." Tori does that a lot. She likes to glare and she loves to tell you to shut up. Out of the two of us, I'm the one that comes up with the good ideas and stuff. Not that I'm saying that Tori's stupid or anything it's just that sometimes she doesn't think things all the way through and screws everything up.

As Tori and I were walking, Tori said "Kelsey, what if we can't find our way back home?"

"Don't you worry about that. We'll get home some how. I don't know how but we will" I said, trying to comfort Tori as best I could. I'm not very good at comforting people. I'm usually the one who needs the comforting. "In the mean time," I continued, "what should we do while we're here?"

"Finding a place to stay would be a good start, don't you think?" asked Tori.

"That's not a bad idea. But we don't have any money to afford a hotel or even a motel."

"That' true. Maybe we could get jobs. We're both old enough."

"I don't know. I don't know how long we are going to be staying here."

Tori looked as if she was going to cry. I could tell that she was scared. Tori is one of those people who will never tell you what they're feeling. I'm the only person she tells and I knew she was scared beyond belief when she didn't tell me.

"Hey" I said, lifting up Tori's chin with my finger, "we're gonna be alright. We're gonna be just fine. You just wait and see. We'll get to Tulsa and we'll ask for directions, and we'll get something to eat. I'm kinda hungry."

"How? We don't have money to pay for food remember?"

"We could always steal it."

Tori jumped slightly when she heard the word 'steal'. "Are you serious about the stealing part?"

"Yeah, totally."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I mean I've never stolen anything before in my life."

"Tori, no one's going to catch us. We never get caught remember." That was true. Tori and I never get caught doing anything wrong.

We walked a little while longer in silence, occasionally stopping to pick daisies a long the road. Then I noticed our surroundings were changing. Instead of fields it was buildings and instead of it just being the two of us it was thousands of other people.

"We must be in Tulsa" I said.

"Yeah" said Tori, "but I always pictured it looking different, a little more modern day, ya know?"

"Yeah. Everything here looks like its from the fifties or sixties or something."

Everything in Tulsa looked different compared to Jacksonville. The cars were different. The people were different. Hell, even the prices on the restaurant signs were different. People were staring at us. Whether it was the fact that we were in our P.J.'s or the fact that we were dressed differently from all the other girls, I couldn't tell you.

"Is it just me or are people staring at us?" Tori noticed it too.

"No, I notice it too."

"Maybe we should stop and ask for those directions" suggested Tori.

"Good idea. Where do you want to stop?"

"I don't know. There's a gas station over there" said Tori, gesturing to a gas station called the "DX".

So Tori and I walked up to the gas station but it looked almost deserted.

"Hello?" called Tori.

"Anybody here?" I called out.

"I don't think there's anybody here. Nobody's answering" said Tori.

"Well since ya'll don't have a car or anything, I guess you don't need gas or nothin'. Can I help you?" came a voice from behind us. Tori and I jumped slightly. It had gotten real quiet.

"Yeah, were kinda lost. We need to get back home and we don't know how" I said.

"Well I don't know if I can help you there" said the boy.

The boy had dark-gold hair that was combed back, long and silky. His eyes were a dark brown color. They seemed to be eyes that were lively and recklessly laughing. He looked to be around 16 or 17 maybe.

"Well do y'all have maps or something? We really need to get home" said Tori.

"Nope. Sorry. No maps here. How come I haven't seen y'all before? You new here or something?" asked the boy.

"Ummmmmm, yeah. We just got here" I said. I couldn't tell this guy that we just woke up here this morning.

"I'm Soda. Sodapop Curtis " said the boy as he grinned at us. Sodapop Curtis? Where had I heard that name before? It seemed so familiar yet I couldn't remember where I had heard it before.

"I'm Kelsey. And that one right there is Tori." Tori hadn't said anything in awhile. Was something wrong with her?

"Kelsey and Tori what?" asked Sodapop.

"Kelsey……….wood and"

"Tori Lewis" finished Tori.

"Nice to meet you. Well I can't really help y'all right now but I get off in an hour and if you want to hang around maybe then I can help you."

"Ok" said Tori and I at the same time.

As we followed Sodapop into the garage something hit me. I remembered where I had heard the name Sodapop Curtis. There was a Sodapop in The Outsiders. 'It's just a coincidence' I thought to myself but then Sodapop introduced us to a guy named Steve Randle, who was tall and lean, with greasy black greasy hair that was combed in swirls.

I knew we were in The Outsiders.


	3. not a ch but AN

Hey guys,

I'm soooooooo sorry about the format in the last ch. My computer's format is totally screwed up! The only way I can submit ch. And stuff is through note pad and if you have note pad then you know it's a pain! I'll try and see if I can find some sort of word document that the site will take. But in the mean time if you want you can try and read the second chapter but if you can't or don't want to then that's ok. I understand. I'll try and fix it as soon as possible. Ok. Thanx! Bye!

ponygurl51090

P.S if you have any ideas as to what should happen next then feel free to e-mail them to me or to leave them as a comment. I would appreciate it!


	4. TwoBit Mathews

I got to sit up in the store part of the DX with Sodapop while Tori helped Steve fix some of the cars in the garage, which was mainly her handing him the tool that he asked for.

"So, where are you and Tori from?" asked Sodapop.

"Oh, we're from Jacksonville, Florida."

"Florida? What are you doing here then?" asked Soda.

"Well, you see, my dad just got transferred here and he sent Tori and I to check out the house and schools and stuff."

"You mean he sent you down here by yourselves?"

"Yeah, my dad's kinda weird like that."

"You and Tori aren't related, are you?" Boy, this kid could ask a lot of questions.

"No, but we're so close, we're almost sisters. We're only six months apart."

"How old are you?"

"15. I'll be 16 in May."

"15! You don't look 15! You look more like 19."

I was so use to people saying that I didn't look 15. I always look older then what I really am. That's one of the advantages of being tall like me.

"What about Tori? How old is she?"

"She's 15. She'll be 16 this November."

"If Steve knew that, he wouldn't let Tori help him. He thinks everyone who's 15 or under is a kid. He don't like kids."

"That makes two of us."

Soda laughed. I was really starting to like Soda. He seemed nice and he treated me as if he had known me for years instead of an hour.

"So" continued Soda, "you got any siblings?"

"Yeah. One older sister named Jillian. She's eighteen. And one younger brother named Stephen. He's nine. What about you?" I could've kicked myself for asking that. I already knew that he has siblings.

"Yeah. I got two brothers who you'll meet later. There's Darry, he's twenty, and Ponyboy, who's fourteen."

"Well we've got one thing in common" I said.

"What's that?" asked Soda.

"We're both the middle child."

"Oh, yeah. It don't bother me that much. Except for when my brothers fight. There're always tryin' to get me to take sides" said Soda.

"It doesn't bother me that much now but it did when I was younger, you know when my brother was born, when I was still getting use to it" I said.

Just then, Tori came storming in. "I swear, if I have to hand him one more tool, I'm gonna die!" declared Tori. Both Soda and I laughed.

"Oh, Steve don't mean nothin' by it. He just likes fixin' cars is all and he don't like others helpin' him" said Soda. Tori just smiled at Soda and didn't say anything in reply. As soon as Soda said that, Steve came walking in. "You're still here?" asked Steve towards Tori in that way that said 'that annoying little kid is still here.'

Tori just glared at him. Then she turned to me and asked, "can I talk to you?"

"Yeah sure" I said as I came out from behind the counter.

Tori and I walked outside to the gas pumps. "What's up?" I asked, leaning against one of the pumps.

"Something's wrong here" said Tori rather bluntly, "I mean look at Soda and Steve. They look nothing like the boys at school. They look more like they jumped right out of The Outsiders or something."

"Tori, there's something I forgot to tell you. I think we might be in The Outsiders."

Tori just stared at me like I was crazy or something. "How can you be so sure?" asked Tori.

"I don't think it's any coincidence that there's a guy named Sodapop Curtis and a guy named Steve Randle working at a DX gas station. I've never seen another DX station before besides the one in the movie. Besides, Soda said he had brothers named Ponyboy and Darry."

"You've got a point. So we really are stuck in the outsiders. Man, I'm gonna have a hard time explaining this one to everyone at school" said Tori. I nodded in agreement. But then I thought of my mom. What would she say when she went to go wake us up this morning and we weren't there? I guess that's a question that won't be answered for awhile. Tori and I began to walk back inside, when Tori stopped suddenly. "Kelsey?" asked Tori, "if we're in The Outsiders, does that mean that the events in the movie are going to happen? Does that mean that Johnny is going to die?" Tori had brought up something that I hadn't thought about. I don't think I could stand the thought of knowing Johnny and Dallas' futures. I would be powerless to stop them from dieing.

"I hope not, Tori" I said as I held the door open for her.

"Did ya'll have a nice chat?" asked Soda, who was drinking a Pepsi.

"The best" replied Tori.

"When do y'all get off?" I asked. Sodapop looked up at the clock. "Right now" he said, "Y'all mind helping Steve and I close up?" "No, not at all" I said. I knew Tori wouldn't mind. So Tori and I helped Steve and Soda pack up. Then we all loaded up into Steve's pick-up. Steve drove while Soda sat in the passenger seat. Tori and I got to sit in the back.

"Where are they taking us?" asked Tori. "I don't know. Looks like they're taking us into town." Steve parked the truck outside some place called "The Dingo." "What are we doing here?" I asked. "We're hungry. We always go to the dingo after work" said Soda. "We can't go in there" said Tori.

"Why not?" asked Steve with a confused look on his face. "We're in our pajamas" I said.

"Oh right," said Soda as he started digging through his pockets. "Here, here's half of last weeks paycheck. It's not much but you don't really need much around these parts" said Soda, handing us the money, "there's a couple of thrift stores down there. Meet us back here when your done, ok?"

"Ok. Thanks Soda" said Tori. "No problem" said Soda. Then he and Steve disappeared into the restaurant.

"I like him" said Tori, "he's been nothing but nice to us since we got here."

"He's just like that" I said, almost as if I had known Soda for years.

"I don't like that Steve guy though. I don't think he likes me either" continued Tori.

"Maybe he'll grow on you. You never know, by the time we leave here, you might like him" I said.

"Yeah, right" said Tori in a disbelieving tone. Tori and I talked the rest of the time until we reached a little thrift store. I counted the money to see how much we could spend. We only had about sixty bucks, so we had to spend wisely. Tori bought two pairs of jeans, some regular white shirts, two plaid shirts, and some converse shoes (which didn't cost that much). I bought two pairs of jeans, four white shirts, two plaid shirts, and some converse. Tori had found some extra money in the pocket of her pajama pants. Who carries money in their pajamas?

Anyways, the lady at the cash registers let us change in the back of the store. As soon as we were changed we went back to the dingo. Steve and Soda hardly recognized us when we walked in. "My sixty bucks bought all that?" asked Soda. "Yeah, here's the change" I said as I handed him the ten dollars in change. Steve and Soda got up so that Tori and I could slide into the booth. I would've been fine sitting on the outside.

I figured it would be better if I let Tori sit next to Soda since she had about had enough of Steve already.

Just as Tori and I picked up a menu, a very familiar face came walking through the door. The boy was tall and stocky in build. He had long, rusty colored side burns. His eyes were grey and he had a goofy looking grin on his face. I sort of slid down behind Steve in my seat. "Hey, Two-Bit! Over here!" yelled Soda, waving his arm in the air.

I couldn't believe that I was actually coming face to face with Two-Bit Mathews.


	5. Ponyboy and Darry

Here ya go, guys. Here's the fourth chapter. Hope you like it. Don't forget to review!

"Well, well ,well, who do we have here? Who are theses two fine young ladies?" asked Two-Bit, pulling up a chair at the end of the table. "Two-Bit, this is Tori Lewis and Kelsey Wood" said Soda, pointing to us as he said our names. "Guys, this is Two-Bit . Kelsey and Tori are new here."

"They stayin' over at your house, Soda?" asked Two-Bit. "Well, I don't know. I haven't asked yet. You two got a place to stay while you're here?" asked Soda.

"No" I replied.

"You wanna stay at my house with me and my brothers?"

I thought about it for a minute. Stay in a house full of guys or sleep on the streets. I think I'd rather go with the house full of guys.

"Yeah sure. Just as long as it's not any trouble" I said. Tori kicked me under the table. "What?" I asked. Tori signaled for me to come closer and then whispered, "we can't stay with these guys. We don't even know them!"

"Well, would you like to stay out on the streets? I don't think we'll be able to find any other place to stay. Besides, Soda seems really nice."

"True but what about his brothers and the rest of the gang?" asked Tori in a lower whisper. "They're harmless, well most of them that is. We'll be fine" I said, reassuringly.

"You sure about this?" asked Tori. "Totally" I replied.

"Ok" said Tori, sitting back down in her seat.

When I turned back to everyone else, they were staring at us. "What was that all about?" asked Steve. "Nothing" I said, "so are you sure it's no problem?" I turned back to Soda. "No problem at all. Y'all can stay in our guest room. Darry might make you get a job though. I hope your ok with that" said Soda.

"Would we have to work with you at the DX?" asked Tori. I could tell Tori was hoping he would say no. She didn't want to have to work with Steve.

"Maybe. I dunno" replied Soda, who was slurping his chocolate milkshake. Tori gave a sigh of relief. "What, you didn't like working at the gas station today?" asked Steve. "No, it's just that the smell of gas gives me a headache. It makes me sick" said Tori.

I laughed. I knew that wasn't the real reason why she didn't want to work there. She just didn't want to be around Steve. Tori likes the smell of gas at the gas station. I don't know why but she does.

"What are you laughing at?" asked Two-Bit.

"It's nothing. It's just an inside joke" I said.

Two-Bit gave me a funny look and went back to telling Soda and Steve about how he ran into these three guys and how they didn't jump him because they figured that he didn't have anything worth taking. I really wasn't paying any attention to them though. I was too busy studying the different people in the restaurant. They all looked greasy to me. Even the girls. Most of the girls had on tight clothes and way too much make-up. I'm not really into wearing a lot of make-up. That's just not me. Someone once told me that the key to wearing make-up is to make people think that you weren't wearing any. I always kept that in mind whenever I did wear make-up.

"Kelsey?" asked Tori. I didn't answer.

"Kelsey!" Tori yelled so loud that I snapped out of my daydreaming. "What?" I asked

"You were staring again" replied Tori.

"I was?" I asked.

"Yeah but I don't think anyone noticed."

Thank God! How embarrassing would that be?

"Come on guys, we're leaving" said Soda, getting out of the booth. "Now where are we going?" asked Tori. "Home" replied Soda, "Pony should be home by now."

"Pony?" asked Tori, "who's Pony?"

"My little brother" replied Soda.

Tori and I, once again, hopped into the back of Steve's truck and Steve drove us to Soda's house. The house looked beaten up and run down. But then again it fit in perfectly with it's surrounding. "This is it? This is your house?" asked Tori. "Yeah, what did you expect?" asked Soda a bit offensively. "I don't know. I just picture it looking different is all. I didn't mean it in a bad way" said Tori. Soda, being the gentlemen that he seemed to be, opened the front door for Tori and I.

The interior of the house looked exactly how I had pictured it. It didn't look as bad as the outside did. When I walked in, I noticed a boy sitting on the couch, reading a book. The boy had light-brown, almost red hair with greenish-grey eyes.

"Didn't Mom ever tell you not to bring home strangers, Soda?" asked the boy, looking up from his book. "They ain't strangers. This is Kelsey and Tori. Guys, this is my brother, Ponyboy. Kelsey and Tori are gonna be stayin' with us for a little while" said Soda from the kitchen. Pony just merely said "hi" and went right back to reading his book. I sort of smiled when I first saw Ponyboy. It was kinda hard to believe that I was only two feet away from one of my favorite outsider's characters. "Come on, I'll show you guys to the guest room" said Soda. Tori and I followed Soda down the hall to a small room that had a queen size bed, a dresser, closet, and mirror.

"The bathrooms right down the hall. That's mine and Pony's room. And that right there is Darry's room. The kitchen is right there and you already saw the living room. Oh, and if you hear someone come in threw the front door in the middle of the night it's probably just one of the guys. We always leave the door unlocked" said Soda just as he was about to leave our room. "Why do you keep the door unlocked?" asked Tori. "Because most of the time one of the guys needs a place to sleep or cool off. It's better then one of them blowing-up and robbing a gas station or something" said Soda. I remembered what Ponyboy had said about the door being unlocked in the book. Then I remember Dallas and him going off the deep end and robbing a grocery store when Johnny died. I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to be here to witness all of that. Soda left us to get comfortable in our new temporary home. Tori threw herself down on the bed and let out a long sigh.

"You feelin' ok?" I asked as I sat down next to her and kicked off my shoes. "Yeah, I'm fine I guess. It's just that this isn't what I'm use to" said Tori.

"I know what you mean. We're use to being around rich kids. After all we do go to a college prep school" I said. Don't get me wrong though. I didn't mind being in an environment like this. To be honest, it seemed better than a rich kids home. I don't know how exactly but it did. "I'm tired. All this time travelin' and stuff has made me really tired" said Tori. "Why don't you take a nap then?" I suggested. "Alright, I think I will" said Tori, laying her head down on the bed. "Alright, I'll let you sleep." I got up and walked out of the room as quietly as I could.

I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't know what kinds of things kids in the sixties did in order to entertain themselves. So I did the only thing I could think of doing, I joined Ponyboy on the couch. Pony did even notice I was sitting next to him until ten minutes later when he put his book down. "Whatcha readin'?" I asked.

"The Chronicles of Narnia. The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe" said Pony.

"Oh, I've read that book. Which part are you at?"

"The very end. At Care Parvel."

"Oh. I remember when I read the book in school. My English teacher turned the whole class room into Narnia. Like you had to step through the wardrobe in order to get into the room and we had the four thrones and the white witches sleigh and everything. Our invitations looked like wardrobes. It was cool except we had to eat that nasty Turkish delight." I stopped myself before I said anything else. I had just realized I was rambling.

"Turkish delight is real? What's it taste like?" asked Pony.

"It's nasty. It's like clear, hard Jell-O with nuts" I said.

"Sounds terrible" said Pony. "Trust me, it is" I said.

"You doin' anything tonight?" asked Ponyboy.

"No, I hadn't planed on it. Why?" I asked.

"Well I was wondering if you and your friend Tori wanted to come with me and Dally and Johnny to the movies tonight" said Pony. I had to think about it for a minute. Would Tori like going some where's with Dallas Winston? Would they even get along? Probably not. "Yeah, I'll go but I don't know about Tori" I said.

"Oh, well, you can ask her when she wakes up" said Pony, "so, where you from?"

"Florida. Tori and I are from Florida" I said.

"You all sisters or something?" asked Pony.

"No. Just really good friends. We've known each other since the forth grade."

"Wow, that's a long time."

"Yeah, but it doesn't seem that long. Hey, where's Soda and Steve?"

"They left. They'll be back before dinner though. It's Soda's turn to cook dinner. I'd skip it if I was you" said Pony. "I'm sure it's not that bad" I said. "We had green pancakes once" said Pony.

"Green pancakes?" I asked. My mom would never let me make green pancakes. She'd freak.

"Yeah and then one time we had blue fried chicken and hot pink potatoes" said Pony, smiling and almost laughing. "Pink potatoes? Sounds like my kind of potato. But your right, I should probably skip dinner. I normally skip dinner anyways" I said.

Just then some guy came through the front door. The guy was tall, broad-shouldered, and very muscular. He had brown hair with eyes that were like pieces of ice.

Both Pony and I jumped up at the same time.

"Kelsey, this is my other older brother, Darry."


	6. Johnny and Dallas

**Hey guys. Sorry this chapter is kinda long. I couldn't find a good ending point. The next one may not be up for awhile but please r&r! Thanx!**

"Hi, I'm Darrel. Darrel Curtis. But you can call me Darry" said Darry as he stuck his sweaty hand out for me to shake. I was polite and shook his hand while saying "I'm Kelsey. Kelsey Wood."

"Soda invited her and her friend Tori to stay with us for a little while" said Pony.

"Oh, did he? I'll have to talk to him about that later when he gets home" said Darry. " I hope it's not too much of a problem. I mean my friend and I just got here and we don't have any place to stay" I said.

"Well it's not that much of a problem but you two will have to bring in some sort of income. Maybe an after school job or something" said Darry. Darry seemed nice to me. He wasn't like what I thought he would be but then again I just met him. "So how long are you and your friend going to be staying here?" asked Darry. "I don't know really. I guess until we find another place to stay" I said. When I said "until we find another place to stay" I really meant until we could find some way to get out of The Outsiders.

"How old are you, Kelsey?" asked Darry as he sat down in a big arm chair.

"15. I'll be 16 pretty soon" I said as I sat back down on the couch. "So your in the what 10th grade, right?" asked Darry. "9th actually. I got held back a year" I said. It's not like I was stupid or something. That's not why people get held back. Most of the time they're held back because the school feels that they're not ready for the next grade yet.

"You still in middle school?" asked Pony. I began to say no, but then I remembered that the school system was different back then. Back then the 9th grade was considered the last year of middle school were as now it's the first year of high school. "You make good grades at school?" asked Pony. Why were these people so interested in my education?

"A's and B's in every class except Math. I'm terrible in math" I said. "Well Pony can help you there" said Darry, who was reading the paper. There was a silence between the three of us. Darry went back to reading the paper and Ponyboy went back to reading his book.

As I sat there and stared at the blank TV screen that sat in front of my, I heard someone stumbling down the hall. I figured it was Tori waking up from her nap. And sure enough it was.

"Have a nice nap?" I asked. Tori nodded her head yes.

"Oh, Tori, this is Darrel, or Darry I guess. Darry this is Tori" I said, pointing to Tori when I said her name.

"Hi" said Tori, who was still half asleep.

Darry said "hi" and went back to reading the paper.

Tori sat down next to me on the couch. Then she put her head on my shoulder. "What's the matter?" I asked. "Nothing" replied Tori, "just tired. I couldn't sleep." "Sorry to hear that" I said, "oh, Pony wants to know if you want to go to the movies tonight with us and some of his other friends" I said.

"Pony? Who's Pony?" asked Tori, lifting her head up off my shoulder. She was a little out of it.

"Ponyboy. He's sitting right next to me" I said, jerking my thumb towards Ponyboy but he didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, yeah, him. Yeah I guess. Is Steve gonna be there?"

"I don't know. Let me ask. Hey, Pony?"

He didn't respond. I waved my hand in front of his face to get his attention. He finally snapped out of the little trance he seemed to be in.

"What?" he asked.

"Tori wants to know if Steve's coming with us to the movies tonight" I said.

Pony leaned forward slightly so that he could see Tori and said, "no, Steve's not gonna be there."

"Good" said Tori.

"Why? Do you not like him or something?" asked Pony.

"No, I don't like him" said Tori.

Pony laughed and said "that makes two of us. So how do you guys like Tulsa so far?"

"It's ok" I said.

"Yeah, it's just ok" said Tori.

"You'll get use to it" said Darry from behind his paper.

"Hey, Pony, what time are we leavin'?" I asked.

"I don't know. In an hour maybe. It's a drive-in so we hafta wait till it gets dark out" said Pony.

"Did you ask if you could go out?" asked Darry.

"Can we go out?" asked Pony.

"Well since its not a school night then yeah I guess you can. Just don't stay out too late. I don't want to have to be up all night worryin' about the three of you" said Darry.

"Well then if we're leavin' in an hour I'm gonna go get a shower" said Tori as she stood up.

"Alright, just don't take too long. I don't want to hafta pay a big water bill this month" said Darry. Tori stepped into the bathroom and shut and locked the door behind her. I just sat on the couch and waited for Tori to get out so that I could get in.

"Kelsey!" called Tori from the bathroom.

"I have a feeling I'm being called. I'll be right back" I said to no one in particular, "What?" I stood outside the bathroom.

"Could you get me my clothes? I forgot to get them" asked Tori.

"Yeah. Sure. Just hang on a sec." I got Tori's clothes and handed them to her. She was dressed and out of the bathroom in five minutes. I quickly hoped in the shower and then put on the clothes I had on before since I didn't have that many clothes with me. I dried my hair off with a towel and fond a rubber band and pulled it back into a neat ponytail.

"Y'all ready?" asked Pony.

"Yep" I said, giving my ponytail another tug to make sure it was tight.

"Yeah" said Tori as she put on her shoes.

"Alright. Dar, what time do you want us back by?" asked Ponyboy to his older brother.

"Midnight and not a minute later" said Darry, putting his paper down.

"Alright, see ya later Dar" said Pony as he walked outside.

"Bye Darry" I said, following Pony.

"Bye" said Tori, who wasn't far behind.

Pony, Tori, and I walked in silence for awhile until Tori spoke-up and said "So, who alls gonna be there tonight?"

"Well, you, me, and Kelsey obviously and we're gonna meet Dallas and Johnny at the corner of Pickett and Sutton" said Pony.

Tori whispered in my ear , "isn't Dallas the one that gets shot at the end of movie?"

"Yeah" I whispered.

"And Johnny is the one that gets burned in the fire and dies, right?"

"Yeah."

"What are you two whispering about back there?" asked Pony.

"You" replied Tori.

"What about me?" asked Pony rather offensively.

"Oh, nothin'." I decided I would play along. I liked playing this game with people. You know the one where they ask you what you were talking about to another friend and you say something like "oh we were just talking about how ugly you are. That's all."

"Come on tell me" said Pony.

"Well, if we told you then we'd have to kill you and I'd rather not go to jail for being a murderer. So therefore, I'm not gonna tell you" said Tori.

"Kelsey?" asked Ponyboy as he turned towards me, "what did y'all say?"

"Seriously, we didn't say anything. We weren't even talking about you" I said. I didn't like to play the game for too long.

"Then what were you talking about?" asked Ponyboy.

"None ya business" said Tori as she made a face at him.

"We'll tell you later. I promise" I said. I wasn't very good at keeping promises, but there were times where I was really good.

"Yeah, we'll tell you later" said Tori

"Promise?" asked Pony, almost as if he didn't believe us.

"Yeah, we promise" Tori and I said at the same time.

We walked for a little while longer, until we found ourselves at the corner of Pickett and Sutton. "What took you so long?" asked a tough looking, toe-headed boy.

The boy had an elfish face, which included high cheek bones and a pointed chin. When he grinned, I could see small, sharp looking animal teeth. He had ears that reminded me of lynx and his hair was so blonde, it was almost white. His hair fell in wisps over his face and kicked out in the back and curled up behind his ears. He needed a haircut in the worst way. He didn't wear grease in his hair like Soda or Pony or the rest of the guys did. His eyes were blue. They looked like two pieces of ice that were filled with hate for the world and everyone in it.

"Tori, Kelsey, this is my buddy, Dallas Winston, and that right there is Johnny" said Ponyboy as he shoved is fist into his jean pockets.

I looked over to the side of me to see a small, dark looking boy who had a defeated look on his face and a scar that ran from his temple to his cheekbone. He had big black eyes that reminded me of those children that you see on those commercials that are begging you to send your money to them so that they can feed the hungry children. His hair was black and heavily greased but even with the grease in, it still fell in bangs across his eyes.

"What do you wanna do, Dal?" asked Pony.

"Nothin' legal. Let's get outa here" said Dallas, walking down the sidewalk. Tori decided to go join Ponyboy and Dallas in the front, while I stayed behind with Johnny.

"Hi, Johnny. I'm Kelsey."

"Hi."


	7. the drive in

Sorry, I had to make a few minor adjustments.

Chapter 6

I couldn't help but to stare at Johnny. It made me sad to know that his parents hit him. It made me sad to know that he cared about them but they didn't care about him.

"What?" asked Johnny.

"Nothin'. Just wonderin'."

"About the scar?"

"Yeah" I replied even though I already knew how he got his scar.

"Just got beatin' up real bad is all" said Johnny in almost a whisper.

"Sorry to hear that" I said. I really was sorry to hear that Johnny had gotten beaten up. It broke my heart when I read that part in the book.

"It ain't your fault. Don't worry about it" said Johnny. I liked Johnny so far. He seemed more talkative then what I thought he would be. Johnny and I ran to catch up with the rest.

"So what movie are we seein' tonight?" I asked to no one in particular. "I don't know. Some stupid beach movie" said Dallas, "but we're not goin' to the movies right now. We still got time before it gets dark." "Then what are we gonna do between now and then?" I asked.

"I don't know. Do you always ask so many questions?" asked Dallas in a rather annoyed tone. "Lay off, Dal, there new here. Give 'em a break" said Ponyboy.

"New here, huh? Where you from?" asked Dallas.

"Jacksonville, Florida. Just got here " replied Tori.

"Hmmm…………" was all Dallas could say.

A silence had fallen in between everyone. And to make it worse it was one of those awkward silences. We all followed Dallas into some local drugstore, like a puppy would follow their mother, except Dallas wasn't anywhere close to my mom. At this stage, he was nothing to me.

I stayed with Johnny, Ponyboy, and Tori and watched them blow straw rappers at the people who happened to be passing by. I decided to get up and look at the magazines, which was where Dallas was. The cigarettes were right next to the magazines. The magazines looked different then the ones I was use to seeing. The ones I'm use to seeing usually have someone like Jesse McCartney or Tom Cruise on the cover. These magazines had people such as Paul Newman.

"You like Paul Newman?" asked Dallas, slowly slipping two packages of Kool cigarettes under his brown leather jacket. "No," I replied slowly, "it's just that I'm use to seeing people like Tom Cruise on magazine covers." I really wanted to kick myself for saying that.

"Who's Tom Cruise?" asked Dallas.

"Steve……………………………… I mean just a celebrity that's very popular in Jacksonville." All I could think was 'great Kelsey. Nice cover up.'

"Never heard of him" said Dallas. "That's probably a good thing" I said. Not that I don't like Tom Cruise or anything it's just that this is the sixties. Tom Cruise wasn't around in the sixties. Dallas walked back over to where everyone else was. The manager of the drugstore was starting to get ticked and was about to say something but then Dallas said "let's get outa here. There's nothin' to do in here."

So we all followed Dallas back out of the store, kinda like how we had followed him in.

The boys walked ahead while Tori and I stayed behind. "That Dallas Winston. He's kinda cute" said Tori. "Yeah, he's ok. But I like Sodapop better so far" I said.

"Really? I thought you'd fall for the total bad boy in the group" said Tori.

"Well, Soda's not all that innocent even though he seems that way" I said.

"He is really sweet though" said Tori.

"Yeah. It's hard to find a guy in 2006 that's that sweet" I said in a whisper so the guys wouldn't hear us.

"What about Michael?"

"Michael? The redhead Michael? Yeah I guess but he's no Soda" I said.

"Your right. He's no Soda. But he's kinda close. Except he has red hair and Soda doesn't" said Tori.

For some reason I looked over to the other side of the street. Just as I did that, I saw Soda and Steve walking in the same direction as us but on the opposite side.

"Hey Tori, look over there." I pointed to where Steve and Soda were.

"Hey," said Tori, "it's Soda and Steve."

We both started waving frantically to get Soda's attention. After what seemed like forever, he finally looked over at us. He returned our wave with another wave and goofy grin. We made funny face at each other until we had to go the opposite direction. We gave each other one last wave and headed our separate ways.

"Let's go to the drive-in" said Dallas, "it's getting dark."

We didn't bother paying to get into the movies. I mean sure we all had money to get in. From what I understand, it didn't cost that much if you were walking, but sneaking in under the fence made going to the movies more fun.

We sat down in the second row in front of the concession stand. I sat down between Tori and Ponyboy. I didn't like the thought of having to sit next to Dallas Winston the whole time. And Tori probably wasn't so crazy about that either. "I'm gonna go get some popcorn" announced Pony, "y'all want something?"

"No, that's ok" I said. I didn't like popcorn, especially the popcorn that you buy at the movies. They always put to much better on.

"I'm going" said Tori as she jumped up to join Pony, leaving me with Johnny and Dallas. As soon as Pony and Tori left, Dallas moved to Ponyboy's seat. I could feel my palms getting sweaty and I quickly wiped them on my jeans.

Dallas lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in my face.

"Do you mind?" I asked.

"Nope. Not at all" replied Dallas. I tried to watch the movie but Dallas stole all my focus, plus the movie was really corny. Dallas put his arm around my shoulder which made me jump slightly. Then I said "get your arm off of my shoulders."

Dallas said "make me."

I took his arm off of me and placed it back on his side of the arm rest. Dallas grinned and said "what's your problem?"

"Nothing, I just don't like people touching me is all." I didn't realize how wrong that sounded until it was too late. Then Dallas started playing with my hair. He was doing stuff like twirling my ponytail around his finger and stuff like that.

"So tell me something. Is this your real hair? I mean, is this your real hair color?" asked Dallas.

"Yes, it is. Now shut up and leave it alone" I said. I didn't like anyone playing with my hair. Especially if I just met that person.

"What? Can I not ask a question?" asked Dally.

"Touch my hair again and you die. Got it?"

"You really don't like people messing with ya, do ya?"

"No, I don't. Now leave me alone."

Dallas was going to say something but then Johnny interfered. "Come on, Dal. Just leave her alone."

Dallas looked at Johnny in amazement. I remember in the book that Johnny had idolized Dallas and it wasn't like him to talk to Dallas like that. Dallas just went back to watching a movie. I wondered where Tori and Ponyboy had gone to get popcorn. They had been gone for a long time now. Then I realized that Pony and Tori were standing next to me. They both had weird expressions on there face.

"What?" I asked. Ponyboy just shook his head and went to go sit by Johnny. Tori took her seat next to me. "How long have you guys been standing there?" I asked.

"Long enough to see that whole thing between you and Dallas" said Tori.

"So what took you and Pony so long to get the popcorn?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"We talked about stuff like how Johnny got his scar. Pony says that Johnny doesn't like to talk about it that much. When he got jumped, it made him really jumpy and scared. Pony says that he even jumps at his own shadow sometimes" said Tori. I couldn't imagine being the scared all the time. It would kill me. I'm already scared enough as it is. I get scared every time something jumps out at me or when I see a shadowy figure out of the corner of my eye.

"I would hate to always be that scared" I said aloud.

"Me too" said Tori. I looked over to Johnny. He looked scared even though there was nothing to be scared. Then all of the sudden, I felt someone grab me shoulder and I screamed so loud, everyone in the first four or five rows turned and looked at me. I just smiled back. I turned around to see who's hand it was and it was Two-Bit. He was cracking up.

It took about ten minutes for him to stop laughing and say "sorry, I didn't mean to scare you so bad. Here have this. It'll calm ya down." Two-bit handed me a beer and took a seat behind us. I just handed the beer to Dallas. I figured he'd get more use out of it then I would. Dallas happily excepted the bottle. No questions asked.

"I'm gonna get outa here .There's a party over at Buck's tonight" said Dallas as he got up, "you comin', babe?"

"In your dreams, Dallas. In your dreams" I said.

"Fine. See ya later, babe" said Dallas as he left.

"Don't call me babe!" I yelled but I don't think he heard me.

"Y'all wanna go? It's starting to get pretty late. We gotta be home at midnight" said Ponyboy. "Yeah, let's get outa here" said Tori.

As we all got up to leave, Two-Bit shouted "wait! I'm comin' too" and ran to join the rest of us.

The five of us walked in silence on the way to the Curtis house. "Can we stop by my house first?" asked Johnny, "I gotta get something." I bit my lip at the thought of going to Johnny's house and prayed to God that his parents weren't home. I wasn't exactly thrilled about seeing his home life or meeting his parents. Any parent that hits there child isn't worth meeting in my opinion. When we arrived at Johnny's house, the lights were off and everything was silent. 'Thank God' I said to myself. Johnny disappeared inside before I heard him say "y'all can come in. It's safe." I slowly followed Two-Bit, Pony, and Tori inside, a bit hesitant.

His house looked like a tornado had hit. There was garbage everywhere and it seemed like you couldn't take one step without tripping over some random object on the floor. The sad part about his house was the beer bottles out numbered everything else that was on the floor. We slowly yet surely made our way to Johnny's room. His room was surprisingly spotless. It was so spotless it looked like it had never been used. He probably didn't use it that long. As I inspected Johnny's room, I heard the front door slam shut. Johnny's eyes widened slightly and he took a deep breathe. "Y'all gotta get out here. Go through the window" said Johnny as he opened his bedroom window. We crawled through the window, each landing with a loud thud. Johnny was the last to come out. He barely made it. I could hear his bedroom door opening just as he landed on the ground. "Come on" said Johnny as he led us away from the house.

"That was scary" said Tori once we reached the street. "Just barely made it" said Ponyboy. Tori looked a little shook up. "Look, guys, I think Tori and I are gonna go ahead and go home" I said. "We'll come with you" said Two-Bit.

"Thanks but no thanks. I think we better go by ourselves" said Tori. "Alright" said Two-Bit, "but take this." Two-Bit handed me a busted Coke bottle. "You never know when you might need it" said Two-bit.

"Ok. See ya back at the house, Ponyboy. Bye Two-Bit. Bye Johnny" said Tori. And with that we turned around and started walking the way we came, except we avoided Johnny's house.

"I like it here so far" said Tori, "the gang seems real nice."

"Yeah. I like it here too" I said. We were almost back at the drive-in by now. I was talking to Tori when we saw bright lights come up on the side us. I turned around to see a bright red mustang following us slowly. 'Oh, no' I thought.

"Who are those people? And why are they following us?" asked Tori. "They're socs" I replied.

"What's a soc?" asked Tori.

"The rich kids from the west side of town. They like to jump greasers" I said.

Then the car started to slow down a little. A boy rolled down the window and yelled "Greasers!" at us before speeding away. At that moment, I knew exactly how Ponyboy felt whenever someone called him a greaser. It was like they were saying I was lousy and worthless before they actually knew who I was. I stopped and looked at Tori and what she was wearing. She had on jeans that were cuffed at the bottom, with a plaid shirt that had its sleeves rolled up slightly and it's collar flipped up, a plain white t-shirt underneath, with converse shoes.

I hadn't notice it before, but now it was obvious.

We looked like greasers.


	8. tough and tuff

Chapter 7

Luckily for us the car didn't stop. "Greasers?" asked Tori, "we're greasers?"

"I guess so. We look like them" I said.

"But we haven't even been here one day. How could we be greasers already?"

"I think it has a lot to do with the people we've made friends with" I said.

"You know even though we've only been here for a little while I'm already starting to miss home. Not that I want to leave it's just that I kinda miss Jacksonville" said Tori.

"I know what you mean. I miss Jacksonville too." By now we were passing the corner of Pickett and Sutton again. The city looked different at night. There were strange people wondering around. There were a bunch of drunk people too. We tried as best we could to stay away from them. Soon we found ourselves in the neighborhood where the Curtis house was.

I was talking to Tori about some guy that we had seen walking out of a bar when I heard a loud car horn blasting in my ear. We almost got hit, that's how close we were to the car.

Tori pounded her fist on the car and yelled "we're walking here! We're walking here!" She immediately regretted saying that. Two tough looking boys climbed out of the car.

One looked to be seventeen or eighteen. He was tall with a mean look on his face. His eyes were cold and green. He had auburn color hair that was slicked back. The grease made his hair look darker then what it really was.

The guy on the other side of the car liked like the eighteen year old, except smaller. He looked to be fifteen.

"Who are you?" asked the older guy.

I shaded my eyes so that I could see him better.

"I should be asking you the same thing. I'm Kelsey and the one who hit your car is Tori" I said. Tori was frozen. She probably thought these guys were going to kill her.

"I'm Tim and that's Curly." Tim gestured to the kid on the other side.

"Shepard?" I asked. I remember reading about a Tim and Curly Shepard in the book.

"Yeah. That's right. You girls need a ride somewhere?" asked Tim.

"No, that's ok. Thanks anyway though. Bye" said Tori. She was panicking and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I grabbed her by the arm as she started to leave.

"What are you doing?" asked Tori in a whisper.

"Trust me. These guys are harmless" I said.

"Are you sure? They don't look harmless."

"We'll be better off riding with them then walking."

"Alright. But if anything happens to us, I'm blaming you" said Tori as we both turned back toward Tim and Curly.

"Would you mind taking us to the Curtis house?" asked Tori.

"It's on our way" said Curly in a creepy voice, "we can take you."

Tori and I slowly climbed into the backseat of the Shepard car, both a little hesitant. Tim and Curly got back in the car and we sped down the road so fast that I had to hold onto the handle that was on the door.

"You girls livin' wid da Curtis brothers?" asked Curly.

"Yeah, only for a little while though" said Tori in a shaky tone.

"They ain't a bad bunch. There friends are a little rough 'round the edges though" said Tim.

"Which ones?" asked Tori.

"Dallas. He can be real tough. One of the tuffest guys I know. Real good friend too" said Tim. I could tell that he admired Dallas. I have no idea what everyone saw in Dallas that made him so heroic and cool. To me he was just another no count hood.

"Here ya go" said Tim as he pulled up in front of the house.

"Thanks Tim" I said.

"Any time, kid" said Tim. Then he and Curly sped off with the breaks squealing. I stood on the sidewalk and watched as the car disappeared into the dark night air.

"He's not bad, least not as bad as I thought he was" said Tori.

"Told ya, didn't I?"

"Yeah. I don't get it though. What did he mean by when he said that Dallas was one of the toughest guys he knows. What was he talking about?"

"I think what he meant was Dallas is one of the coolest guys he knows. Here there are two different kinds of tough. There's t-o-u-g-h with means like rough. Then there's t-u-f-f which means cool."

"So when Tim said that Dallas was one of the tuffest guys he knows, he mean t-u-f-f and not t-o-u-g-h."

"Yeah, that's probably what he meant. Let's go in now, it's starting to get cold."

Tori and I started walking to the house. I couldn't be happier. This night was going perfectly. It was one of the best nights I had had in a long time.

As soon as we opened the front door, Darry was up and out of his chair.

"Where have you two been? We've been worried sick about you" said Darry.

"We just lost track of time. We didn't mean to worry you and Soda" said Tori.

"Lost track of time? Your wearing a watch! How could you lose track of time?" Darry was starting to yell now and to be honest, it scared me.

"We were too busy talking!" I said.

"We were lucky we got home in one piece" added Tori.

"What are you talking about? What happened?" asked Darry, this time in a more worried then mad tone.

"We had a run in with the Socs and the Shepard's" I said quietly.

"Your ok right? They didn't hurt you did they?" asked Soda from the couch. Soda looked like he was about to fall asleep but then again it was almost two in the morning.

"No, the Shepard's didn't hurt us. Neither did the Socs. They just yelled at us is all" said Tori.

"What were you doing with Tim and Curly?" asked Darry.

Both Tori and I fell silent. I was afraid to tell Darry that Tim and Curly had given us a ride home.

"They gave us a ride back here" said Tori as she stared at her new converse shoes.

I could see that Darry was starting to get mad but he was fighting to keep it under control.

"Give 'em a break Dar. They didn't know any better" said Soda, half asleep.

"I'll cut you some slack this time but I don't ever wanna see you two with those boys ever again, that clear? Those boys are nothing but trouble" said Darry, "now go to bed. It's getting late."

"Alright. Night Darry. Night Soda" said Tori, walking to our room.

"Night" said Soda.

I said "night. Thanks Darry for cutting us some slack."

"Yeah, well don't get use to it."


	9. baseball

Chapter 8

I woke up the next morning wondering where I was. I forgot that Tori and I were at the Curtis house. I checked to see if Tori was still asleep but the bed was empty.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stumbled my way into the kitchen.

"Morning sleepy head" said Darry who was making breakfast.

"Mornin'" I said.

"We was wondering when we were gonna see you today."

"I usually sleep in on the weekend."

"Don't we all?" asked Sodapop, coming into the kitchen.

"Mornin' Soda" I said.

"Morning" said Soda.

"Has anyone seen Tori? She wasn't there when I woke up."

"Yeah, she's in the shower" said Soda, "she got up real early this morning."

"Breakfast is ready!" announced Darry so that everyone in the house could hear him.

"I'm not hungry" I said.

Soda looked at me strange and said "what do you mean not hungry? You haven't eaten anything since yesterday. You hafta eat something. Here, try some eggs. You'll like 'em. Darry makes a pretty good breakfast."

Soda placed at plate full of eggs and a glass of chocolate milk in front of me. I couldn't resist.

"You want cake too?" asked Soda.

"Y'all eat cake for breakfast? That's insane" said Tori as she stepped into the kitchen, fully dressed and ready for the day.

"Not just any cake. Chocolate cake" said Soda as he pulled the cake out of the refrigerator.

"If you want some, you better get it now before Two-Bit and Steve show up" said Ponyboy as he and Johnny sat down at the kitchen table with me and Tori. Darry and Soda joined us as soon as they finished fixing there plates. Of course, Soda had a mound of grape jelly on his.

"So what are we doing today?" asked Tori.

"We usually play football on Sundays. Y'all are welcome to join us" said Soda.

"No that's ok. I think I'll just watch" I said. I was never a big football fan, even though I've basically grown up around the sport.

"You not a big football person?" asked Darry.

"Well, it's not that I don't like it or any one who plays football. It's just that I don't like to play" I said.

"I've yet to meet a girl who likes to play football" said Ponyboy.

"Hey, I like to play football" said Tori in a matter-of -fact tone.

"I take that back."

"I'm done" I announced as I got up to put my plate in the sink.

"Already?" asked Tori.

"I'm a fast eater."

Just as I said that, Two-Bit and Steve came barreling through the front door. Dallas followed behind very slowly.

"How was the party last night, Dal?" I asked.

"My head hurts so bad it's not even funny" said Dallas as he laid down on the couch, holding his head.

"Serves ya right" I said under my breathe.

I hopped into the shower while it was open. The hot water felt good. It seemed like forever since I last had a shower when in reality it was just yesterday. As I got out, I could hear Tori banging on the door saying "hurry up!"

"I'm hurryin'! I'm hurryin'!" I yelled from the other side. I threw my clothes on and ran a brush through my wet hair.

"Happy?" I asked Tori, who was standing right by the door when I came out. I didn't like people rushing my like she just did. It bugs me.

"Yes, now move!" Tori shoved me out of the way and slammed the door behind her.

"You know you could say please!" I yelled after her. I decided to join Two-Bit, Steve, and Dallas in the living room.

"So Kelsey" started Two-Bit, "Soda tells us that you and Tori had your first run in with the socs last night."  
"Yeah, so?"

"What did they do to ya?" asked Two-Bit.

"Nothin' really, just called us greasers is all. I guess it coulda been a lot worse" I said.

"Your right about that. You two outa be careful when your walking home by yourselves" said Two-Bit who was watching Mickey Mouse on TV.

"Y'all shouldn't be walking by your lonesome anyways" said Steve.

"Why not?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"'cause y'all could get jumped or hurt or something" said Steve.

"Like you'd care" I said.

"I wouldn't care. That is until I would hafta git involved in the fight, then I would care."

"Well that's good to know I guess" I said. Steve didn't seem to hear me. He was too busy watching Mickey Mouse.

A few minutes later, Tori stepped out of the bathroom .

"So what did y'all talk about while I was gone?" asked Tori. Tori sat down next to me on the floor.

"Nothin' much. Talked about the us runnin' into the socs and Shepards last night" I said.

"Wait a minute" said Dallas from the couch, "y'all didn't say anything 'bout bein' with Curly and Tim last night."

"You didn't ask" I said.

"Do you need to know everything anyways?" asked Tori.

"I'm sure Darry already gave 'em the pep talk about being with the Shepards alone" said Two-Bit.

"Yeah, he did" said Tori.

"You know I'm serious about what I said last night. I don't want you two hangin' out with the shepards unless one of us is there" said Darry from the kitchen.

"We get it Darry" said Tori. I was surprised to hear her say that. She never stood up to anybody, except me that is. She can't even stand up to her own parents. For me, it was no problem to stand up to somebody, mostly because I'm about twice there size.

"I got an idea!" shouted Tori out of the blue, "instead of playing football, why don't we play baseball?"

"Baseball? Why would we play baseball?" asked Dallas.

"Because it's an easy sport for all of us to play. Easier then football that is" said Tori.

"But we don't have a bat or a baseball or anything" said Ponyboy.

"There's a bat in the closet in the guest room along with some baseballs" I said.

"Where'd that come from?" asked Ponyboy.

"From me. I use to play little league" said Soda.

"You did little league? When was this?" asked Steve, who was still watching TV.

"When we was little. Don't you remember? You went to one practice and never went back" said Soda.

Steve had a look on his face that said he was trying to remember that one practice but it wasn't ringing any bells.

"Yeah, I guess we could try playing baseball instead of football but just this once" said Darry. Everyone, except Dallas, seemed to agree with him.

"I'll get the bats and stuff. I'll meet you guys down by the lot" I said as I jumped up to get the stuff out of the closet. Tori walked with me back to the bedroom and waited for me.

"Good idea" I said.

"Good idea about what?" asked Tori, leaning against the doorway.

"About playing baseball. It might be a nice change for them" I said.

"I just thought it would be better then playing football."

I smiled at her. I knew she liked to play football. She just changed the sport so that I could play. I'm a better baseball player then I am football player. Plus I understand baseball better then football.

I grabbed the bats and balls, put my shoes on and ran to join the rest at the lot.

"How are we gonna divide the teams? There's nine of us" said Darry.

"Which means that there'd be four in the out field and five in the in field. That's not really fair. Maybe we should find someone else to play with us" I said. I looked around and saw Tim and Curly and a few other kids with them. Some guys and some girls.

"No, don't even think about it" said Darry. He must of known what I was thinking.

"Oh come on, Dar. It'll make the teams even" I pleaded.

Darry thought for a moment and then said, "alright."

"Alright. Hey, can Tori and I be captains?"

"Yeah sure."

I ran over to where Tim and Curly and all there little friends where.

"Hey Tim" I said as I greeted him.

"Yeah" said Tim

"Do y'all wanna play with us? We need more people or else we won't be able to play" I said.

"Forget it. I don't do baseball" said Tim as he started to walk away.

"Please, Tim. We really need more players" I pleaded some more.

For awhile, Tim didn't say anything. He must have been thinking about whether or not he was going to play.

"Please, Tim" I thought one more plead might persuade him.

He let out a long sigh and said "alright."  
I was happy. We could play baseball now. And I got to pick who was going to be on my team.

"Hey Tori" I said, coming up behind her and nearly scaring the you know what outa her.

"We're captains" I said.

"We are?" asked Tori.

"You get to pick first. You can only pick seven" I said, stepping aside so that she could pick.

"Lets see here……………………I pick……………………………Darry" said Tori. Darn-it! I was gonna pick him. My turn next.

"I pick Soda" I said.

"Figures. I pick" Tori thought for a moment about who she was going to pick.

"I pick Two-Bit."

"Well then I pick Steve. I figured you wouldn't."

So Tori and I went on picking like this for a little while longer. She got Darry, Two-Bit, Ponyboy, Curly, Tim, and two of there friends. I got Soda, Steve, Johnny, Dallas, and three of Tim and Curly's friends. We were all set and ready to play. My team was the first team to bat. Dallas was up first.

"I suck at this game" said Dallas before missing the ball.

"Just try it once" I said.

And with that Dallas hit the ball so hard that it was a home run. That how the rest of the game went. We beat Tori and her team. 15 to 10. It was close, but not close enough. The game wrapped up around two and Tim and his gang went on there way while we went ours.

**Hey guys. Hope y'all had a nice Easter. I know I did! Here's the new chapter. I'm sorry it took so long. I had to wait for Tori to read it and review it. She claims I'm making her look like an idiot but anyways. Please R&R!**


	10. Break time

Chapter 9

Break Time

The next couple of days were pretty quite. Tori and I got part time jobs at the DX. I really liked working at the gas station and ,surprisingly, I think Tori did too. It was kinda fun.

Tori, Soda, Steve, and I were all sitting in the garage on our break when Soda asked, "So, I thought your dad was suppose to come down here. When's he coming?"

"I don't know. I guess it's taking them a little longer to get the house packed up. You know with five people living under one roof there's a lot of stuff to pack." I looked down at my feet when I said that. I didn't like having to lie to Soda like that. He had become like a brother to me over the past couple of days.

"What's wrong?" asked Soda.

"Nothing. I just don't wanna move is all." I lied again.

"Oh, well, you'll learn to like it here. You'll get use to it. Just give it some time." If I had a dollar every time someone told me that I'd be rich.

"What about you?" asked Tori all of the sudden.

"What about me?" asked Soda.

"Well, we've been here for a couple of days and we've yet to see your parents. Where are they?" Maybe I should've told Tori that his parents were dead so that she wouldn't ask that question.

Soda hung his head low and didn't reply.

"His parents died in a car accident last year" answered Steve for Soda.

"Oh, I'm sorry" said Tori.

"It's ok. You didn't know" said Soda.

"What about you?" asked Steve towards Tori.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what about your family? Why are you hear with her when you two ain't even related?"

Tori got real quite, like Soda did when he was asked about his parents.

"They got divorced last year" I answered for Tori. She didn't like to talk about her parents that much, especially to someone she didn't know all that well.

"And you?" asked Soda, breaking his silence.

I said "me? Um…..my parents are ok actually. Sure we've got family drama but it's not all that dramatic". Which was true. My family does have drama but its more the extended family, not the immediate family.

"What kind of drama?" asked Tori.

"Well, it has to do with my dad and his brother. They don't talk to each other any more. Because of that we've drifted apart from that side of the family. And to make matters worse, my cousin Amelia plays golf and she's really good. She's in all these tournaments and stuff and my grandparents always brag about her to me. They like it when there grandkids play sports. And since I don't do sports it just kinda feels like………I dunno…….. maybe there not happy about the fact that I don't play sports like everyone else" I said.

"Wadda you do instead?" asked Soda.

"I write stories and stuff. I'm a big English person. And I'm into music. I'm like the only one in my family who can play the guitar." I'm not really sure if that's true or not. My parents use to play but I don't know if they remember how. It's probably been a little while since.

"Sounds real dramatic" said Steve in a sarcastic tone.

"It is. It can be very upsetting at times. I sometimes get that feeling that I don't fit in with my family or one particular side of the family."

"I think I know what you mean" said Tori, "I mean with my moms side and stuff. I don't know. I just get that feeling that I don't fit in with them. Like there's no room for me over there. But with my dad's side, it's like I fit in perfectly."

"That's what I like about my family" said Soda, "it's tight nit. Plus I've got people who aren't related to me but they feel like family."

"I envy you, Soda" said Tori.

"Me too" I added.

"Me three" said Steve.

"Wadda you mean you envy me?" asked Soda rather confused.

"I think what we mean is that you've got something that a lot of use don't have. I mean sure we've got families and all but we're not as close as you, Pony, and Darry are" I said. I think I spoke for everyone when I said that. I like my family and all but were not near as close to each other as the Curtis brothers are. I mean, how could we? Both of my parents work full time. Jillian is always either working or out with her friends. I'm way to busy with school and all the drama that school brings. And Stephens always too busy doing his thing (I have no idea what a nine year old does. It's been awhile since I was nine.) We're all too busy.

"What about you, Steve?" I asked.

"My parents hate me. I'm not kidding when I say that. My dad kicks me out almost every week and then gives money the next day to make up for it. My mom works two full time jobs because my dad is too lazy to work. I have to work here after school. And my sisters too little to work so that leaves her out."

"You have a little sister?" asked Tori, " you never told us that."

"Yeah. Her names Kristy. She's only five though."

There was a silence between us. I started to think about all the kids I go to school with. Most of them come from families where their moms have the option to sit at home all day. Those kids have the whole world at their feet and they abuse that by doing stupid stuff like drinking or drugs or something. As for me, my family isn't one of those families. I have to work to get what I want. It isn't just handed me and I'm glad it's not. If it was then I would be a spoiled little brat who only knows about things like shopping and boyfriends. I'd be kinda shallow too.

"I hate it" said Tori all of the sudden.

"Hate what?" asked Soda.

"I hate the fact that we have to work hard in order to get to wherever it is that we want to go and the Socs don't have to. All they'd have to do is ask there parents for it and they'd get it. It's almost like things aren't hard for them, I mean I'm sure they are, it just doesn't seem like that though" said Tori.

"I was thinking the exact same thing" I said.

Soda glanced up at the clock and said "break times over. Back to work."


	11. Dreamer

Chapter 10

That day, Steve drove Tori, Soda, and I home. As soon as we got home, I went to bed. I was tired from working hard all day.

I had a dream………………………………...

_I was in a dark, dark room and I was sitting on something very cold. I blinked a couple of times in order to adjust to the light. When I could see better, I realized that I was in a room and I was sitting on one of those cold metal chairs. I started to notice that there were other people in the room. At first I didn't recognized them, but then I saw my mom and dad sitting in the front row. My mom was crying while my dad was trying to comfort her but he was crying too. Then my brother and sister appeared next to my parents. And after that I saw my grandparents, they were crying too. _

_Soon I could see my whole family. They were all crying for some reason. I couldn't figure out why. I looked around to see what they were crying about but I didn't find anything. _

_I noticed two more familiar faces appear. But this time it wasn't anyone from my family, it was Tori and Soda. Like my family, they were crying. The whole gang was there, sobbing. Even Dallas was crying, which was surprising because he never cries._

_The room started to become lighter and everything started to come into focus. I could see a preacher standing at the front of the room behind a long, mahogany box. The box looked a lot like a coffin. Then it occurred to me. I was at a funeral. I quickly got up and ran down the aisle to see who's funeral it was. I looked in the coffin and nearly fainted. There in the mahogany coffin was a dead version of me. I've heard people say that people look peaceful when they were dead. I didn't look peaceful. It looked more like I was asleep. _

_Then the people started clearing out of the room. I guess they were going to the reception or something. The room started spinning and I got dizzy._

_All of the sudden, I could see two newspapers. One was dated 1966. The headline was blurry but it had a picture of me. I had a sad and distant look in my eyes. The other was dated 2006. The headline was hard to make out but there was a picture of my family. They looked happy. I didn't understand what this dream meant………………………………..._

"Kelsey! Get up!" Tori was yelling at me and shaking me so that I would wake up.

"What?" I asked, nearly falling out of bed.

"You were screaming. Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Fine. Just had a bad dream is all."

"Oh, well, dinner's almost ready. I'd start waking up so that you can eat before everyone else gets here."

"Alright." I ran a brush through my hair and followed Tori out to the kitchen.

"Did you have a bad dream or something?" asked Soda, who was sitting at the kitchen table playing cards with Ponyboy.

"I was screaming that loud?"

"Yeah but don't worry about it. I get bad dreams too" said Ponyboy.

"I know" I said.

"What?" asked Ponyboy.

"I meant I know how you feel. I get bad dreams a lot too." Nice cover up.

Ponyboy just looked at me weird then went back to his card game.

"So where's Darry?" I asked.

"He's still at work. He won't be home till later. He said to go ahead and start dinner without him" said Ponyboy.

"What's for dinner anyways?" asked Soda.

"Macaroni and cheese" said Tori as she got the bowls out for the macaroni.

"I think I'll pass if you don't mind" I said. I hate macaroni. I had a bad experience with macaroni when I was a kid.

"Do you not like my macaroni?" asked Tori with a fake offensiveness to her voice.

"It's not your macaroni. It's macaroni all together. I just don't like it. Makes me sick" I said.

"Well fine then. You don't have to eat it" said Tori.

As I sat and watched the card game that was going on in front of me, I thought about my dream and what it meant. Maybe it meant that I was going to die soon. But then how would that explain the picture of my family in the newspaper? I knew my family wouldn't be happy if I died. If anything they would be absolutely devastated. Especially my mother. Then I thought about my mom and all the trouble she must be going through in 2006. She must be heart broken. I couldn't imagine waking up one day and discovering that my daughter has gone missing. It would kill my completely that is if I had a daughter.

"You guys goin' out tonight?" asked Soda.

"I don't know. I think we're startin' school tomorrow so probably not" said Tori, handing out bowls of macaroni.

"Y'all get to go to school with me, Two-Bit, and Steve" said Ponyboy, stating on his macaroni.

"Great. A whole day with Two-Bit. I'm thrilled" I said, sarcastically.

"It's not that bad. The days never boring with him around" said Ponyboy.

"True. But to hafta spend all day with him, I dunno."

"You get use to it after awhile."

That night surprisingly stayed pretty quite. We didn't do much except have dinner. The rest of the gang came over at about 7 and didn't leave till 11. That made it hard for me to fall back asleep. Like I could sleep though.

I kept thinking about my dream. It scared me so much that I started shaking.

"Kelsey? You ok?" asked Tori.

"Yeah. Just a little cold is all."

"It's about that dream isn't it?" Tori could always tell when I was lying to her.

"How did you know?"

"I just know. What happened? That dream must have scared you pretty bad. What was it about?"

"I dreamt that I was at a funeral. My family and the gang were there. Then I found out that it was my funeral. I don't know how I died. But then the funeral disappeared and I saw two newspapers. I couldn't read the headlines but they both had pictures. One was dated 1966 and had a picture of my with a sad expression. The other was dated 2006 and had a picture of my family. They were all really happy."

"Maybe they were happy about the fact that you died" said Tori, jokingly.

I took my pillow and hit her as hard as I could.

"OWWW! I was only kidding" said Tori, grabbing her arm where I had hit her.

"I'm being serious. What do you think it meant?"

"I don't know. It was probably just some dream. It probably didn't mean anything." When Tori said that, someone starting pounding on the wall from the other room.

"You two go to bed! It's getting late! Don't make me come in there!" yelled Soda from the other room.

"Since when do we listen to you?" I yelled right back.

I could hear Soda and everyone else laughing in the next room.

"Seriously y'all go to bed" yelled Soda after he stopped laughing.

"All right, we're going."

Tori and I fell asleep without any interruptions. I tossed and turned all night that night.


	12. first day of school

Chapter 11

"Kelsey, Tori, time to wake up!" Darry was yelling at us from the kitchen. I didn't want to wake up that morning. We had to go to school for the first time in a long time. It's always hard for me to go back to school when I haven't been in awhile.

I slowly, yet surely got up out of bed.

"Morning" said Darry, "ready for your first day of school?"

"No" I replied.

"Breakfast is almost ready. Two-bit will be here in an hour to pick you guys up" said Darry.

"Great. Not only do I have to go to school but I hafta get in a car with Two-Bit behind the wheel."

Darry grinned. That was the first time I had ever seen him come close to smiling.

"He ain't that bad of a driver" said Soda, clad only a pair of jeans and a shirt.

"Where's Tori?" asked Darry.

"She's still in bed" I said.

"Why don't one of you go wake her up" suggested Darry.

Soda was starting to get up but then I said "better let me do it. I don't think she wants you to wake her up."

"Why not?" asked Soda.

"Cause you'd tickle her to death. She doesn't like to be tickled."

"Hey, wake Pony up too while your at it" said Darry.

When I got back to our room, I grabbed my pillow and hit Tori with it as hard as I could.

"OWWW! What was that for?"

"Darry says it's time to get up so getcha but outa bed."

I nearly had to drag her out before she finally gave up and got out on her own.

"Now help me wake Ponyboy up" I said.

Tori just glared at me but she helped me anyways.

Tori and I slowly tip-toed into Ponyboy and Sodapop's room. As soon as I passed the doorway, I ran and jumped on Pony and Soda's bed with Tori close behind. We both started jumping on the bed.

"Hey, sleeping beauty, time to get up" I said.

"No. Five more minutes" said Ponyboy with a pillow over his head.

"Nope. No more minutes. Time to get up" said Tori as she pulled the pillow off of his head.

"This is cruel and unusual punishment" said Ponyboy.

"Ok seriously now get up" I said.

"Nope" said Ponyboy.

"Get up before I hafta hog tie ya and drag you to school" said Tori. She was really going to do it too if he didn't wake up.

"Fine. I'm getting up. Just stop jumping on the bed" said Ponyboy, sitting up and putting his feet on the cold floor.

Tori and I left so that Ponyboy could get ready for school.

"What did y'all do to get him up? We can never get him to wake up" said Soda.

"We jumped on his bed and bugged him until he had to get up" said Tori.

"We outa try that sometime" said Soda to Darry.

Tori, Sodapop, Darry, Ponyboy, and I finished up breakfast. When I was finished, I could hear Two-Bit honking his horn at us.

"That's our ride" said Ponyboy, who raced out the door.

"See y'all later" said Tori, who was right behind Pony.

"Bye Darry. See ya at work Soda" I said, running out the door. I could hear both Darry and Soda yell "bye."

I hoped in the front seat while Tori and Ponyboy sat in the back.

"Y'all ready?" asked Two-Bit.

"Yeah" we all said at the same time. How weird was that?

"We gotta pick up Johnny at his house" said Two-Bit.

The car ride to Johnny's house was really quite. I was nervous. I had never gone to a public school before.

When we got to Johnny's house it looked different then what I remembered. Maybe it was the fact that the first time I saw it it was night time. It looked different in the day time. The house looked more rundown.

In less then two minutes or so of our arrival, Johnny came running out with his mother chasing him. I slid over so that he could get in. He jumped in the car and we sped off before Johnny's mom could get a hold of him.

"What was the problem this morning?" asked Two-Bit.

"Mom's just pissed off as usual. God knows whats wrong with her this time" said Johnny. I didn't get it. Two-Bit, Ponyboy, and Johnny all acted like this type of thing happened every morning when they came to pick Johnny up for school.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine" said Johnny.

The rest of the car ride was pretty quite, that is until my favorite Beatles song came on the radio.

"And here's one for all you Beatles fans out there. It's old but it's classic. Here's 'I want to hold your hand'."

"Oh my gosh! I love this song!" I turned the radio up so loud I thought the speakers were going to blow. I started belting out the lyrics to the song.

"What are you doing?" asked Two-Bit, turning the radio down.

"I was singing. Do you not like my singing?"

"No, I just hate that song. I hate the Beatles."

"You did not just say that. You don't tell Kelsey that you hate the Beatles" said Tori from the backseat.

"Well, what about Elvis? You like him?" asked Two-Bit.

"Love Elvis" I said.

"How is that possible? You can't be both an Elvis fan and a Beatles fan at the same time" said Johnny.

"Sure you can. Trust me. Where I come from you can be both, right Tori?"

"Right. You could be a fan of the stones, the Beatles, Elvis, and Johnny Cash all at the same time." I could tell Tori was trying to be careful about not saying band names like My Chemical Romance or Yellowcard. If I were her I would have done something stupid like that.

"Here. I got something better for you" said Two-Bit. Two-Bit played with the radio knob until he found the right song.

"Now this is better then any Beatles song" said Ponyboy.

It was some Elvis song that I had never heard of before.

But in the middle of the song, the DJ broke in with some "breaking news."

"Sorry to interrupt your song, folks, but I just couldn't wait to tell you this. Johnny Cash was arrested yesterday in El Paso for smuggling drugs into the country by hiding them in his guitar case. The Grand Ole Opry also refuses to have him back after he broke the establishments foot lights just last month. Johnny Cash and his wife Vivian filed for divorce last month. No word has been said as to what Johnny Cash will do without Vivian. My best bet is that he'll propose to June Carter again. Who knows. Maybe she'll say yes. In other news……." and the DJ went on to tell about other news in the 1960's Hollywood.

It seemed like it took us forever to get to school. When we got there, Tori and I had to check in at the front desk. It was something they made the new students do so that you could get your schedule and locker combination and stuff like that.

As soon as we got our schedules, Tori and I started comparing them to see which classes we had together.

My schedule was:

1. Algebra 1 .

2. Earth Space science

3. American Government

4. Spanish 1

5. P.E

6. English 1 honors

7. Creative Writing honors.

Tori schedule was:

1. Geometry

2. Biology honors

3. American Government honors

4. Spanish 1

5. Drama

6. English 1 honors

7. Journalism

"We only have three classes together" said Tori.

"Well it's better then none" I said.

"Well I guess we'd better get going" said Tori.

"All right. See you 3rd period" I said.

"See ya" said Tori as she disappeared into the sea of high schoolers. As I walked down the hallway to my locker, the song 'I'm just a kid' by Simple Plan was playing in my head. I thought that the song fit the moment perfectly for some reason.

I quickly got my books for math and found my way to the classroom. I quietly sat down in a seat in the back.

"Nervous?" asked a familiar voice from beside me. I turned in my seat to see Johnny sitting right next to me.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just a little. You'll be fine. If you hang out with Two-Bit and Ponyboy and all your cool with most of the tough guys here."

"That's good to know."

"It's the socs you gotta watch out for" said Johnny.

That feeling of fear I had felt before came rushing back.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Just be careful though."

Just as Johnny said that the teacher came in and class began. I understood most of the stuff she was talking about but I had a feeling that Johnny had no idea. Not that he was stupid or anything it's just that in the book Ponyboy said that Johnny was a slow learner and once he did learn something he liked to explore it. I was the same way but once I got into high school I had to learn to be quick to learn things. The teacher wasn't going to slow the whole class down just for one person.

After math I headed to Science. Two-Bit was in my science class. Of course he had to sit behind me and put his feet on the back of my chair the whole class.

"Do you hafta do that?" I asked, turning around to face him.

"Yep" was all he said.

"What are you doing in here anyways?" I asked.

"I haven't passed this class yet" said Two-Bit. I tried hard not to laugh out loud but I couldn't help it. I wasn't trying to be mean or anything.

"Don't laugh" said Two-Bit.

"Sorry" I said, trying to stop laughing. Like I should be laughing though. I failed the third grade when I was little. Its one of those secrets that nobody but my best friend and family knows. I'm not very proud about it but then again if I hadn't gotten held back I would never of met Tori or any of the friends that I have now.

The class went by fast. It seemed like an easy class to me. I mean all we had to do was sit there and look up answers to questions in the text book. I just talked to Two-Bit most of the time. The teacher didn't seem to care.

"Your 15, right?" asked Two-Bit.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, if your 15 then how come your still in the 9th grade?"

"I failed a grade." I couldn't believe I just told Two-Bit that. Like I said before, I never tell anybody about that.

"Well that's one thing we have in common."

"You failed the 3rd grade too?"

"No, I failed kindergarten."

"Kindergarten? How the hell do you fail kindergarten?"

"I didn't learn my shapes and colors" he said with a grin from ear to ear.

"You know 'em now right?" What a stupid question that was.

"Yeah, of course I know 'em now! I'm not _that _stupid" said Two-Bit.

The bell rang and class was over.

"See ya, Two-Bit" I said, waving good-bye.

"Bye Kelsey" said Two-Bit, walking in the other direction.

My next class was American Government. Ponyboy and Tori were in my American Gov. class. Nothing happened in that class.

Then I had Spanish. Spanish was always an easy class for me. Today, the teacher made us make these books about what we had learned in Spanish so far.

After Spanish was P.E. Everybody was in my P.E class. We even had Socs in our class. The teacher decided to give us some free time that day. I was standing over in one corner of the field that was in the back of the school when a couple of soc guys came up to us.

"Uh oh. Here's comes trouble" I said.

"What do these clowns want now?" asked Two-Bit, as if I knew.

"Well, well, well, looky what we got here. If it isn't the two new greasy girls" said one guy. The guy had rings on.

"What do you want Bob?" I asked. The rings where a dead give away.

"What? Can we not get acquainted with our two new best friends?" asked Bob as he put his arm around me.

"Get off" I said with an annoyed expression in my eyes.

"Come on. You know you like it."

"Hey, leave her alone" said Two-Bit, pushing Bob off of me.

"You wanna fight?" asked Bob.

"Why not" said Two-Bit, pulling out his most prized possession, his black handled switchblade. I pried the knife out of his hand before he could do anything with it.

"What?" asked Two-Bit towards me.

"I hate fights" I said, "now I'll give you the knife back if you promise not to kill him."

Two-Bit promised he wouldn't kill Bob and I gave him his switchblade.

"You just better watch it" said Randy in a threatening tone.

As the socs were leaving, Two-Bit yelled "you know I hear they stamp you face in the gorilla cookies!" We all started cracking up.

"Check out there pants too" said Tori.

"It looks like they're watin' for a flood" I added. We laughed even harder.

Bob and his buddies just kept walking but I knew it had pissed them off.

"I love making them mad" said Two-Bit.

"I don't know why but I do too" said Tori.

"It shows that you're a greaser already" said Two-Bit.

"Come on" I said, "lets go inside."


	13. runaway soda

Chapter 12

Ponyboy, Johnny, Tori, and I walked home that day. Two-Bit had some other business to attend to so he couldn't drive us.

"Well, this is my stop" said Johnny, "I'll see y'all later."

"See ya" I said.

"Bye Johnny!" yelled Tori.

"Great" said Ponyboy, "I get stuck here with all these girls."

"Hey, we're not all that bad" said Tori.

"So how did y'all like your first day of school?" asked Ponyboy, quickly changing the subject..

"Actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be" I said.

"Yeah, plus the work is easier then what we're use to" added Tori.

"Wadda ya mean?" asked Pony.

"We just mean that the school we go to is harder" I said. I couldn't tell him the we got to private college prep school. A greaser in a preppy school wouldn't go over well.

"Ok…….." said Ponyboy. I think that he thought we were holding something back. Maybe he was on to use. I doubt it though.

The walk home was kinda silent. I had a long day at school and I had to go to work in thirty minutes so the day wasn't over yet. For some reason I was looking forward to work. Maybe it was the fact that I got to see Sodapop for the first time today. I've really taken a liking to Soda (who wouldn't?). I think I was kinda crushing on him. If I was, I hope it wasn't that obvious.

We dropped Ponyboy back at the house and then walked to the DX.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Steve as Tori and I approached the garage.

"We had to walk all the way home then all the way here" said Tori.

"I thought Two-Bit was suppose to drive to drive you."

"Yeah we thought so too but apparently not" I said.

Our boss Sam came into the garage.

"Tori, Soda needs help in the store. Kelsey you can stay here" said Sam.

"All right I'm going" said Tori as she left for the front of the store. I didn't really know what to do in the garage. I always worked up front or out by the pumps. So I did the only thing I could think of. I sat on the counter that was closest to the car that Steve was working on. For some reason, I liked to watch him work on cars. It may seem kind of weird but Steve didn't seem to mind.

"You gonna teach me how to fix a car like that?" I asked. I had a feeling that he was going to say no but I thought it was worth a shot.

"Maybe. Why? You wanna learn how to work on cars?"

"Maybe. I dunno. I guess I kinda should though I mean my family business is cars."

"Like fixing them or owning a garage or something?"

"No. More like selling car paint."

"To anyone or famous people?"

"Anyone. Though we would probably sell to celebrities if we had the chance."

Steve didn't say anything in reply. He just kept working on the car.

"You always work on nice cars like these?" I just had to break the awkward silence that had fallen between us.

"Yeah. We're the best in town so even the Socs bring there cars to us." I studied the car he was working on. It was a red '66 mustang. I would kill to have a car like that except I would want it in pink instead of red. I don't like red.

"Hey Steve?"

"What?"

"How come you hate Tori and I so much?"

"I don't hate you. Whatever gave you that idea?"

"I dunno. You just, you always act so mean towards us. Especially towards Tori."

Steve stopped and thought for a moment, looking me in the eye the whole time.

"I don't hate you, I just…………I dunno………. I guess maybe it's because y'all are two years younger then me. It's normal for an older kid not to like little kids."

"We're little kids to you?"

"Yeah. You wouldn't understand until your seventeen and you've got fourteen and fifteen year old kids hangin' around ya." Steve had a point. I'm fifteen and I think that kids who are 12 and 13 are little. When I was 12 or 13 I thought I was pretty cool and I was so old. Now I look back on that and say 'I was so stupid when I was younger.' I'm sure it's something everybody does every once in a while.

"but your ok for a little kid" continued Steve.

"Thanks I guess." Then, all of the sudden, I heard a car horn coming from the gas pumps outside.

"You wanna get that?" asked Steve, who didn't bother to look up from the car that he was working on.

I said "yeah sure" and left to go help the customer. The car that was at the gas pumps was nice. The car was a red Sting Ray. I could tell that it was a Soc car. No greaser could ever afford a car that nice.

"How much?" I asked the customer.

"It doesn't matter" replied the girl. There were two girls in the car. One had short, dark hair, who was sitting in the passenger seat and the other had long, red hair, who was driving. I gave them as much gas as I thought was necessary. I wasn't going to be mean and give them more then they could afford.

"I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new around here?" asked the red head.

"Yeah. Just moved here. My names' Kelsey Wood."

"I'm Sherri Valance but my friends call me Cherry because of my red hair. And this is Marcia" said Cherry, motioning to her friend.

"That should be enough" I said, pulling the pump out of the gas tank.

"Here. I don't know how much is there but it should me more then enough" said Cherry, handing me a fist full of money. I counted out the money that I needed and gave the change back.

"Have a nice day" I said.

"You too. Who knows, maybe we'll see each other around sometime" said Cherry. Then she sped off out of the gas station. I walked to the front of the station and put the money in the cash register. Tori was sitting behind the counter, keeping a eye on things in the store.

"Where's Soda? I thought he was suppose to be here with you?" I asked.

"He went back in the garage" replied Tori in a flat tone.

"Something wrong?"

"No. I was just thinking. When are we going to tell them that we are from the future?" asked Tori.

"I was just thinking about that myself. I think we should tell them whenever the time is right. I mean, we've to be prepared for there reactions."

"Like the questions that there gonna have."

"Yeah, like that."

Just then, Soda came in with a big smile on his face.

"What are you smiling about?" I asked.

"Sam just said that we could get off early today. Where do y'all wanna go?" asked Sodapop.

"Lets go shopping" suggested Tori.

"Why would we do that?" I asked.

"Well, we do kinda need new clothes." Tori was right. We had been wearing the same clothes for a couple of weeks now. We desperately needed to go shopping.

"I guess we could do that. Y'all got money to spend?" asked Soda. He didn't seem too thrilled about the idea. Guys and shopping don't really mix well.

"I've got half of last weeks pay checks and all of this weeks" I said.

"I've got all of last weeks and all of this weeks pay check" Tori said.

"All right so where going shopping" said Soda.

Soda drove Tori and I downtown. That's where all the stores where. We walked up and down the sidewalk until we found a store that we wanted to go in. It was a thrift store, like the one we had been in before. We bought more shirts and jeans and stuff. Soda treated us both to a milkshake before we went home.

When we got home, Tori and I went inside while Soda got the mail. Both Tori and I sat down at the kitchen table and got started on our homework.

When Soda came in with the mail, I asked "anything good?"

"Yeah here." He threw the mail down on the kitchen table while reading some letter that was addressed to him.

"Let's see here" I began, picking up the mail, "junk, junk, junk, bill, junk, junk, bill, junk, junk and guess what more junk." Soda didn't seem to care about what else was in the mail. He was too focused on that letter. Is was in the middle of an equation when Soda ran out the front door.

"What's gotten into him?" asked Tori.

"I dunno." I picked up the letter that Soda had dropped on the kitchen floor. It was from his girlfriend, Sandy. I read the letter slowly and began to realize that this was the one that he gets at the end of the book. It said things like "it" wasn't his and that Sandy loved some one else. I knew Sodapop loved Sandy and that he planed on marrying her one day. He must've been heart broken.

"We've gotta go find him" said Tori, "what's the letter say?"

"It says that his girlfriend, Sandy, is pregnant but it isn't his. She doesn't love him the way he loves her. He planned on marrying her."

"How do you know all this?"

"That's what you get for reading the book and watching the movie so many times."


	14. Boo Radley

Chapter 13

Tori decided to stay home in case he came back while I went out and looked for him. It was starting to get dark out. I had spent two hours out and I still hadn't found him. I looked everywhere, including the movie theater, park, The dingo, Tastee freeze, Jay's, the vacant lot, even the school. He was no where's to be found. I was about to give up but then I thought of a place that I hadn't looked. Even though I was under strict orders not to be anywhere's near Tim Shepard, or any other Shepard, this was an emergency. I thought that by some chance he might be at the Shepard house. I had to ask a lot of people where the house was, but finally got some trashy looking girl to take me there.

"Who are you?" asked the girl chewing hard on her gum.

"Kelsey Wood. I'm stayin' with Sodapop and his brothers for a little while. Who are you?"

"Angela Shepard. Tim and Curly's younger sister." Angela didn't look like Tim and Curly's little sister. If anything she looked like she was a lot older.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"14. You?"

"15."

"You don't look 15" said Angela.

I was about to say 'like you should be talking' but I didn't. This girl really didn't look 14. She had lots of make-up on and clothes that were way too tight and a skirt that was way, way too short. I would never wear those type of clothes. Not even if my life depended on it.

"Well hate to break it to ya babe, but Sodapop Curtis ain't here. I just saw him head north about an hour ago."  
"Why didn't you tell me that before you brought me to your house?"

"I dunno. I guess it just slipped my mind. Sorry."

"Thanks anyways." With that I left and headed north. I had no idea where I was going but I knew I had to find Soda. It wasn't safe for him to be out here alone after he had just gotten his heart broken. Then, I thought of another place that I hadn't look. I had no idea where Buck Merril's place was, but I had a feeling Soda was there.

When I finally found my way there, I knocked on the door as loud as I could. There was a party going on inside with cheap country music blaring.

A tall, lanky, blonde haired cowboy looking guy answered the door.

"Who are you?" asked the guy, who's two front teeth were missing.

"I'm Kelsey. I'm looking for Sodapop Curtis. Is he here?"

"Yeah, he's upstairs but he don't wanna see nobody."

"Just show me where he is" I said in a bullying tone. I knew that the only way to get Buck to do what you wanted him to do was to bully him.

"Follow me." Buck lead me upstairs to this room that was at the end of a long dark hallway. The hallway had tons of weird people in it. They all looked like druggies if you ask me.

"He's in there" said Buck before going back downstairs.

I tried to open the door but it was locked. I knocked as loud as I could and said, "Soda, it's Kelsey, let me in." I didn't hear any response. I tried again and still nothing.

I tried a third time and it worked. The third time is always a charm. I could hear the unlocking of the door. I opened the door to reveal a small bedroom. I don't want to know what normally went on in these bedrooms. Soda walked to the farthest corner of the room and curled up in a ball, like a rollie polie does if you poke it.

Sodapop's eyes were bloodshot and tears where rolling down his cheeks. To see Soda like that made me want to cry myself. To see someone who was happy all the time be so sad was heart wrenching.

"You ok? You had me worried sick" I said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. I just had to get away."

"You must be crushed. I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I mean, who finds the person your gonna marry at 16? How stupid could I've been."

"Soda, your not stupid."

"Yeah I am" he cut me off before I could finish what I was going to say, "you didn't see the grades that I use to make in school. I dropped out. And now this? I must seem like an idiot to you."

"No, your not an idiot. I don't ever wanna hear you talk about yourself like that again, you understand? Your not stupid. This isn't your fault. If anything, it's hers. She's the one who missed out on this great person that I see in front of me."

"Your just saying that to make me feel better" said Soda while whipping the tears away.

"No, I'm not. It's true. My mom and dad gave me the same talk when this guy at school broke my heart."

"What did you do?"  
"Cried for about ten minutes or so then I got over it. The next day was the best day I've had so far, besides my birthday."

"So are you telling me that tomorrow could be the best day that I've had so far?"

"Maybe, who knows."

Soda gave me one of those priceless Sodapop Curtis grins. He wasn't feeling 100 better but it was a start.

"You wanna come back home now? Everyone's probably wondering where we are" I said.

"yeah, sure." Soda pulled himself up off the floor and whipped the tears away one last time. I was halfway out the door when I heard Soda say, "thanks Kelsey."

"Anytime, Soda." Soda and I hugged before we started our journey home. "So, what are you doing at Buck's place anyways?" I asked.

"I dunno. I guess I thought that nobody would ever find me here. How did you know about this place anyways?"

"Dallas told me about it one day. He said that he never wants to see me or Tori here. And if he did he would kill the both of us."

"I hope you listened to him. Darry would kill you if he ever found out you was here."

"Would you kill me if you found out I was here?"

"Yes. But I'll make an exception this time. You weren't here to party or anything you were just looking for me. That's what we can tell Darry when we get home. Who knows, maybe he'll believe us."

"Yeah, I'm not really lookin' forward to getting my ass kicked tonight."

"Hey, watch your mouth" warned Soda.

"Why? You say worse. All of y'all do."

"Not all of us. Ponyboy and Tori don't."

"You should hear them at school. It's a whole 'nother story."

Soda stopped and held his arm out, signaling for me to stop.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Shh………hush for a minute………I heard it when we was walking but I don't hear it now."

"You just hear the dead leaves scrapping on the road." There was a breeze that night and there were a lot of dead leaves. Soda and I kept on walking but then he stopped again.

"You hear that?" asked Soda.

"No. Your probably just hearin' things."

This whole thing was starting to get very _To Kill A Mockingbird, _you know the end with Scout, Boo, and Jem. Sodapop was Jem, the older brother who first heard Bob Ewell. And I was Scout, the girl who thought her brother was loosing "it." But the only question was, who was Bob Ewell in this scenario? I started to hearing what Sodapop was hearing. It sounded like the shuffling of five or six different pairs of feet.

"Stay close to me" instructed Soda. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I could see five or six Soc guys shuffling towards us, two of which where Bob and Randy.

"Hey look, it's the greasy girl from school and her boyfriend. Hey greasers!" yelled Bob in an unsteady tone. He was drunk. All of them were.

"You're outa your territory. Y'all just better watch it" warned Soda in a low tone.

"Nope, pal, y'all are the ones who better watch it" said Randy. Whoa, where had I seen this before?  
I don't know why, but for some reason I turned around and ran. Unfortunately though, I ran straight into an alley that had a dead end. Four of the Socs, one being Bob, had me down in less than a second. Two were holding my arms down, one was holding my feet, and Bob was straddled across my chest with his knees driving into my arms.

"That's a nice necklace you got there" said Bob. I could feel Bob place his cold hand under my shirt, on my stomach. Every second or so he would slide his hand up.

"I think I just might take that necklace. It would look really nice on my girlfriend." Bob smelt so heavily of whiskey it was sickening. Bob pulled a knife out of his back pocket and the moonlight from the blade flickered in my eyes. He lightly pressed the knife against my neck. I was scared to death. I looked over at Soda and all I could see was him lying on the hard cement, motionless.

"Soda!" I cried out.

"Shut her up!" commanded Bob. One of the other guys shoved something in my mouth that made me be quite. Bob moved the knife from my neck to my cheek. He started cutting while saying "how about we give her a nice scar to go with that pretty face." Before he even got halfway down my cheek or to my chest, Bob was yanked off me. I was pushed out of the way and as soon as I got up, I ran to Soda's aid. He was out cold. He had so many bruises I couldn't even begin to count them.

I turned around to see the Socs running and someone coming towards me. As he stepped under a light that was above a doorway, I could see that the person who save me was Dallas Winston. Dallas Winston was my Boo Radley.


	15. Cuts and bruises

Chapter 14

"What the hell are you doing out? You could've been killed!" yelled Dallas.

"I'm sorry. I was out looking for Soda and we where walking home and they just came out of nowhere." I was about to cry but I knew that you don't cry in front of Dallas Winston. You just don't.

"We gotta get him home" said Dallas, "my car is right around the corner."

Of course, Dallas didn't help me get Soda to the car. I laid Soda down gently in the backseat and climbed in the front.

"They got you good" said Dallas, "your probably gonna have a scar there. Here, put this on it so that it'll stop bleedin'." He handed me some old T-shirt that he found on the floor of his car.

"When do you think he's gonna wake up?" I asked.

"I dunno. Do I look like a doctor to you?" snapped Dallas.

"No need to snap, it was just a question!" Dally just glared at me but didn't say anything in return. We got back to the Curtis house in about 20 minutes. I was trying to get Soda out of the backseat when Darry came, scooped him up, and carried him inside the house. I went and sat in Darry's chair while everyone gathered around Soda, who was lying still on the couch. "Tori, can you get me the first aid kit? It's in the bathroom" said Darry. Tori left her position on the floor and came back with the first aid kit.

"How did this happen?" asked Tori. Everyone turned towards me when she asked. I felt like I was on stage, about to perform, and all eyes where on me.

"Well, I went out to look for Soda. I found him at Buck Merril's place and when we were on our way home when we got jumped by a couple of Socs. They would of done worse had it not been for Dallas" I squeaked out. I was surprised at the sound of my voice. It sounded odd to me. Like it wasn't mine.

Once Darry was done with Soda, he moved on to me.

"That's gonna need stitches" said Darry, taking a good look at my cut.

"I can do it" said Two-bit.

"You know how to stitch?" asked Tori. I was a bit surprised my self. I didn't expect Two-Bit to know how to stitch.

"Yeah. When you get hurt as much as I do, you learn how to do your own stitches."

Two-bit took a good look at my cut then instructed Darry to go find a needle and some thread. Darry came back with a needle, a spool of black thread, and a spool of pink thread.

"Black or pink?" asked Two-bit.

"Black." Pink wasn't one of my favorite colors.

"This is gonna hurt so try not to scream" said Two-Bit.

He wasn't joking when he said it was going to hurt. It hurt like hell. I almost started crying but I didn't. In about an hour or so, everyone who wasn't sleeping over left.

"I'm gonna go to bed" announced Ponyboy, "night."

"Good night" I said.

"Night" said Tori.

"You two better go to bed, too. I think I'll stay out here with him" said Darry. Darry looked exhausted. He needed a good nights sleep in a bed.

"No, you can go to bed. You look tired. I'll stay out here with him" I offered. Darry thought it over for a minute until finally saying "alright, but come get me when he wakes up."

"Alright" said Tori.

"You stayin' out here too?" I asked.

"Yeah" said Tori, making herself comfortable in the other chair.

"I'm gonna turn the lights off." I got up, flipped the light switch, and went back to the chair.

"Tori?" I asked.

"What?"

"Was Darry really mad when we weren't home by dark?"

"No. I explained the whole situation to him, but I left out the part about Sandy. I thought it might be best that Soda tell everyone when he wants to." That was probably a smart thing for her to do.

Tori sat up in her chair and said "poor Soda. He just couldn't win tonight, could he?"

"Nope" I said, "you should've seen him when I found him. He looked terrible, of course he looks worse now."

"So where did you find him? Why'd it take you so long?"

"Well, to answer your first question, I found at Buck Merril's place. Buck's this cowboy guy who's always having parties and stuff. He owns a couple of horses I think. And the second question, well, I looked all over town. I even looked at the Shepard house."

"Kelsey, Darry told us to stay away from them."

"I know. But this was an emergency. I figured he'd make an exception."

"I wouldn't tell him about it."  
"I wasn't going to."

Tori and I both fell silent. She was trying to go to sleep while I was thinking about Dallas. He seemed so mad at me that night, like it was my fault that we got jumped. I couldn't understand why he was so mad. He didn't care for me and I didn't particulary care for him. When he yelled at me, it scared me. I had never seen him so mad like that before. But then again, if it hadn't been for Dallas, I might not be here now, telling you this story. He had saved me and I knew I had to return the favor somehow but how?

Just as I was thinking these things over carefully, I could feel myself drifting into a heavy sleep. I tried to fight it but it was no use. My eyes gave in and shut.

I had a terrible nightmare that night. I couldn't remember what it was about but it had to do with Sodapop getting hurt. I had a feeling that I was responsible for doing it, like I had hurt him in some form. I was awoken from my nightmare by a loud crash. My first thought was that someone was breaking into the house but then I remember that there wasn't anything worth taken.

I opened my eyes to see Soda standing in front of me, trying to make his way back to his room I guess.

"Soda? What are you doing?" I asked in a groggy voice.

"Kelsey? Is that you? I didn't wake you did I?" Soda voice was almost a whisper. It was filled with hurt. Not emotional hurt but physical.

"No. You need to get back on the couch. Your hurt pretty badly."

"No, no. I'll be ok." Soda was lying to me. I got up and helped Soda back on the couch.

"You ok?" asked Soda.

"Yeah. Just got a bad cut on my face is all."

"Oh, sorry."

"It's not your fault. You should see it. It makes me look tough."

Soda tried to laugh but it wasn't very successful.

"This is my fault" started Soda, "if I hadn't of run away, this would've never of happened."

"Well, not tonight at least but in the near future" I said. I didn't want Soda to feel guilty for this. It wasn't is fault. How was he suppose to know about it? He couldn't of.

"Soda?" came a sleepy voice from the corner of the room, "you awake?" It was Tori.

"Yeah" replied Soda.

"You feelin' better? You scared us."

"No, not really but I'm getting there."

"I'm gonna let you get some sleep. You want anything?" I asked.

"Aspirin. Aspirin and water."

"Alright." I left my spot on the couch and came back with the aspirins and a glass of water.

"Here, it's sitting on the coffee table." I placed the medicine on the table and went back to sleep in Darry's chair. I had a hard time falling asleep that night. Partly because the chair was very uncomfortable to sleep in and partly because of the pain coming from my cut.

I woke up very early the next morning. I could hear Darry in the kitchen cooking breakfast. I must've been standing in the kitchen doorway for five minutes before he noticed me.

"Sleep good?" asked Darry.

"kinda. Not really."

"Yeah? How'd Soda do last night? Did he wake up?"

"Yeah, he woke up around three maybe. I gave him two aspirins to help him get back to sleep."  
"That's good news. It'll take awhile for those cuts and bruises to heal but he'll be ok. He should be use to it by now." The words 'he should be use to it by now' hit me kinda hard. Did this sort of thing happen all the time? It must've if Darry said that. It made me sick to know that the Socs jump us so often. It just isn't fair. It seems like they made a sport out of the matter. It's all fun and games to them but to us, in some cases, it could be a matter of life and death. I could see thousands of kids dieing on the streets from people like Bob and his buddies. I hoped that I wouldn't be one of those kids. I hoped that none of the gang would be one of those kids.

Somebody should tell those rich kids that it's not funny. Somebody should stop them, but I know that there is no possible way to stop them. The traditional "rich kid vs. poor kid" battle will always be present. I see it everyday. I go to school with a bunch of rich brats who laugh at kids who have to walk home everyday or who have to work because they have no other option. Kids like Two-Bit and Johnny and Dallas, heck, even Ponyboy and Sodapop wouldn't survive at my school, that is if they could afford it.

"You better go get dressed, Dallas will be here to take you to school soon" said Darry, pulling me out of my thoughts. Without saying a word I went to the bathroom and took a shower. The hot water felt good. I felt like I had a years worth of dirt on me. I jumped out of the shower, put my clothes on, and joined everyone else at the breakfast table. Ponyboy and Johnny where up by now.

"That cut looks even worse in the daylight" said Ponyboy.

"Thanks, I feel much better now. I was worrying about people thinking that I was ugly but now I know that I am. Thanks Ponyboy."

"It took you how long to realize that you're ugly?" asked Tori. We always talked to each other like that. I hit her and said "shut-up."

Right when breakfast was over, Dallas stuck his head in the door and asked if we were ready yet. Everyone loaded into the car and Dallas took us to school.


	16. Kristy

Chapter 15

A couple of days passed and Soda got better. I was at work when Steve asked if Tori and I could baby-sit Kristy that night. Of course, we said yes. I didn't have anything better to do that night and I don't think Tori did either.

"What time do you want us over there?" asked Tori.

"6 ish" replied Steve.

Tori and I went home so that we could freshen up before we had to baby-sit. I sat on the couch and waited while Tori finished getting dressed.

"Are you ready yet! He said to be there by six and it's 5:30!" I yelled from the living room.

"No need to yell I'm right here. Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go." I put my jacket on and stepped outside into the chilly almost nigh time air.

"Nice night" I said.

"Yeah. I wonder where Steve's goin' tonight.

"I don't know. He didn't tell us when he asked us to baby-sit."

We arrived at the Randle residence around six. Steve's house looked a lot like our house (the Curtis house that is). It was rundown with a lot of toys in the front yard. I nearly broke my neck trying to get to the front door. Steve answered the door.

"It took y'all long enough to get here."

"We would've gotten here early had not been from someone taking forever to get dressed" I said, looking at Tori.

"It's ok. Y'all can come in" said Steve, opening the door a little wider. The house on the inside looked different then the outside. It was actually somewhat neat. When I walked in, I could see a little, dark haired girl sitting at the coffee table coloring.

"This is Kristy. Kristy this is Kelsey and Tori. You listen to them, ok?"

Kristy just nodded her head. She was too busy coloring.

"My mom should be home around 2 maybe 3. I might be home earlier then that, I dunno" said Steve.

"What about your dad?" asked Tori.

"He's at the bar. God knows when he'll be home but if he does come home before me or my mom, don't leave her alone with him, got it?"

"Got it. Where are you going?" I asked.

"There's a party over at the Shepard place that Dally and I are going to. If you need anything, call Darry. They all should be home tonight. Oh and one last thing, NO BOYS."

"Not even the gang?" asked Tori.

"Well, no one else but them. Now I gotta go but there's stuff in the icebox if you get hungry. She eats just about anything. Kristy, you be good for them alright."  
"Ok" said Kristy.  
"Ok. See y'all later" and with that Steve left, leaving Tori and I standing there in the middle of the Randle family living room.

"You wanna color with me?" asked Kristy in her cut little 5 year old voice, you know the voice were they can't pronounce half of there words right.

"Ok" I said joining Kristy on the floor.

"You too" said Kristy, motioning for Tori to join us, "here, here's some paper and crayons."

"No markers?" asked Tori.

"No. Steve don't let me use markers. He think I make a mess."

"He's probably right. Can I see what your drawing?"

Kristy handed me the piece of paper that she had been working on.

It was an interesting and yet scary picture. In the picture, there was a guy. I'm guessing it was her dad. He had a bottle in one hand and he looked mad. The words "I hate you. I wish you weren't born" was in a bubble that made it look like he was saying it. In the corner of the paper, there was a little girl who had dark hair. She had what was suppose to be cuts and bruises all over her. There was a guy standing in front of her. He wasn't as big as the other one but he looked like he had a pretty good build. He resembled Steve in an odd way.

"Kristy, is that your daddy?" I asked, pointing to the big guy.

"Yeah."

"And whose this in the corner?"

"Me."

"And what about him? Whose that?" asked Tori, pointing to the other guy.

"Steve."

"Kristy, does your daddy really say those things to you?" I asked.

"Yeah. He says that to my brother too. He says that we're mistakes. He hurts me too."

"How does he hurt you?" asked Tori.

"He hits me. He cut my brother with a kitchen knife once." No wonder Steve was so bitter. His father really did hate him.

"Where's your mom? She's not in the picture" commented Tori.

"She's never here. She works a lot" replied Kristy. I had to change the subject. It wasn't healthy for a five year old girl to be talking about these things.

"Hey, why don't you draw another picture. Why don't you draw one of your brother? Can you do that for me?" I suggested.

"Yeah, give him purple hair" said Kristy as she went to work on her new master piece.

"Steve with purple hair. That would be an interesting site" said Tori. We went back to drawing our pictures. I spelling my name in bubble letters. As I made my name, I thought about Kristy and Steve and what life must be like for them here. It made me wonder if Kristy had ever met Johnny. I think they'd have a lot in common even though she's five and he's sixteen. I can already think of one thing that they have in common.

About an hour later, Kristy got tired of drawing.

"Can we go outside and play?" asked Kristy.

"Sure. Let's get your coat on first. It's pretty cold out" said Tori. Tori found a little pink jacket on the coat rack that looked about Kristy's size. We went outside and played with the big orange bouncy ball that was on the front porch

"Pony!" yelled Kristy.

"There's no pony, goofy" I said.

"No, Pony!" yelled Kristy again, pointing to something behind me. I turned my head to see Ponyboy and Johnny coming up to the house.

"Hey" said Tori, "what are you guys doing here?"

"We thought you might need some help. Plus we didn't have anything else to do" said Johnny.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

"Nothing really. Just kinda hangin' out. Did y'all hear about Two-Bit?" asked Ponyboy.

"No, what happened?" asked Tori.

"He got jumped by a couple of Socs last night" said Ponyboy.

"Is he ok?" I asked.

"He'll be fine. Lucky for him he had that fancy blade with him. As soon as he pulled it out they all ran like a bunch of girls no offense" said Johnny.

"None taken" said Tori and I.

"Kelsey! Throw the ball" whined Kristy, who was on the other side of the porch. I hadn't realized that I was still holding the ball.

"Jeez, Kelsey, quit being such a ball hog" said Ponyboy in a joking way.

"Shut up."

Ponyboy and Johnny stuck around for a little while until Darry called and told Ponyboy that it was time to come home.

"We'll see y'all when we get home" I said.

"Ok. Bye" said Ponyboy, waving franticly.

"You goin' Johnny?" asked Tori.

"Can I stay here with y'all?" asked Johnny.

"Yeah sure" I said.

"Yay! Johnny gets to stay with us!" cheered Kristy.

"Cute kid" said Johnny.

"Yeah. She reminds me of you" I said.

"You mean I look like a girl?"

"I didn't mean that and you know it." I noticed that Johnny had a new cut on his arm.

"What happened?" I asked, gesturing to his arm.

"Nothin'. Just fell." He was lying. He always lied about stuff like that. Who could blame him? I would lie like that too if I had parents who were abusive. I mean, sure my parents have hit me before that was only spankings when I was little. Now-a-days I just get yelled at and grounded.

"You don't hafta lie to me. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know. But this time I'm telling the truth. I really did fall. It was on the way home from school today. You can ask Pony he was there."

"Alright, but if I find out your lying to me…….."

Johnny cut me off by saying "I know, I know, you'll kill me, right?"

"No, I'll just be really mad. Come on, let's go in. I'm starting to get cold." Johnny and I both walked inside together.

"Kelsey?" asked Kristy.

"What?"

"I'm hungry."

"Here, I'll make you something. Wadda ya want?" asked Tori.

"Pancakes" replied Kristy.

"Pancakes? For dinner?" asked Johnny.

"Yeah sure. You've never had breakfast for dinner?"

"No" replied Johnny. Tori made the pancakes and after that it was time for Kristy to go to bed.

"Who do you want to tuck you in?" I asked.

"You and Tori" said Kristy. Tori sent Kristy to her room to get ready for bed and said to call us when she was ready.  
"I'm ready!" yelled Kristy from her room.

Tori and I walked back to Kristy room, which was all the way at the end of the hall. Her room was actually kinda cute. It was all pink with all her toys spread out on the floor.

"How does Steve normally tuck you in?" asked Tori.

"He sings to me. He sings that Teddy Bear song by Elvis."

"What's the Teddy Bear song?" asked Tori.

"It's that one that Joey, Danny, and Jesse sing to Michelle on _Full House" _I said.

"Ok, yeah, I know that one."

Tori and I took our positions in front of Kristy's bed and sang _Teddy Bear. _

"Night Kristy" said Tori, leaving the room.  
"Night" I said, turning the lights off and shutting the door.

"Nice singing" commented Johnny, "how come y'all don't sing for the rest of us?"

"Me? Because I can't sing" I said.

"I'm not that good of a singer either" said Tori.

We just watched TV and listened to music for the rest of the night. I fell asleep on the couch, on Johnny's shoulder.

I woke up again around two. There was someone outside the house making a lot of noise. I woke Tori up and she heard it too. For a minute there I thought I was going crazy.

"What is that?" asked Tori. She peeked outside the living room window to see who it is.

"There's some guy standing outside the gate" said Tori in a whisper, "what should we do?"

"I dunno. Maybe we should call Darry. Steve did say that we should call him if we had any problems" I said.

"Good idea."

I called Darry and he said that he'd be over as soon as possible.

Darry pulled up in his truck and tried to scare the guy off but it wasn't working.

"I live here! This is my house!" yelled the guy. I assumed him to be Mr. Randle.

"Get outa here!" yelled Tori, marching outside.

"You gonna make me, little girl?"

"Don't mess with me, man" said Tori. She had a determined look in her eye. She was gonna get him to leave no matter what it took.

The guy tried to hit her but she ducked and hit him square in the nose. Blood started flowing out of his nostrils. She hit him so hard that he fell backwards on the side walk.

"Get your drunk ass outa here before I really give you something to cry about!" yelled Tori. The guy shakily got to his feet and gave her an evil glare before walking away in the opposite direction.

"I don't see while y'all called me. It looks like you could've handled it yourself" said Darry.

"Sorry, Dar" said Tori.

"It's ok. I'm gonna back to bed, alright. Have Steve drive you home when he gets back. It's not safe for you two to be walking out here at night."

"Ok, see ya later Darry" I said.

"Bye" and with that Darry got in his truck and sped off down the road towards the Curtis house.

I stood there and looked at Tori for a minute. I never knew she had it in her to actually hit somebody like that. She wasn't the fighting type most of the time.

"What?" asked Tori.

"Damn, I never knew you could fight like that" I said.

"To be honest, I didn't know I could either. I don't know where it came from, but at that moment it felt right" said Tori, shoving her hands in her pocket.

"You know, your pretty tuff" I said, putting my arm around her shoulder as we walked inside.

"Your pretty tuff yourself."


	17. Date Night and then some

Chapter 16

We didn't get home till four that morning. Darry said that we could stay home from school if we really wanted to since we got in so late. I was the first one out of Tori and I to wake up that morning, which means that I had to make breakfast. I decided to make eggs. It was the only thing I knew how to make.

When I walked out to the living room, I saw none other then Tim Shepard sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper.

"Hey Tim" I said.

"Hey kid. How's it goin'?"

"Not bad. You want some breakfast or something?"

"Wadda ya makin'?"

"Eggs."

"Yeah, sure."

Tim kept reading the paper until I was done making the eggs.

"You want something to drink with that?"

"Wadda ya have?"

"Chocolate milk and orange juice."

"Orange juice'll be fine."

I went back to the kitchen to pour Tim a glass of orange juice. I set it on the coffee table when I was done.

"Any good headlines today?" For some reason, people seemed to take a real liking to the newspaper in Tulsa.

"No, not really."

"So, how was the party last night?" I remember Steve telling me that he was going to a party at the Shepard house.  
"It's ok. Same as usual. How come you and Tori weren't there?"

"We had plans. Besides, Darry would ground our asses if he ever heard that we was there."

"And why is that?"

"He just don't like us going to parties is all" said Tori, coming down the hall, "hey Tim."

"Hey. Y'all doin' anything tonight?"

"Nothin' in particular. Why?" asked Tori.

"I dunno. I was just wonderin' if y'all wanted to go out with me and Curly tonight to the drive in or something."

"Go out as in date?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?"

I looked at Tori. She didn't look like she had any objections to it. I don't know why but she didn't. She actually looked kind of happy about it.

"Ok. What time?" asked Tori.

"Maybe 7."

"Alright, but could you pick us up at the lot instead of here?" I asked.

Tim laughed and said "ok."

A couple of minutes later Tim left. He said that he had some other business to attend to.

"What did we just agree to?" asked Tori.

"I dunno. I think we just agreed to go on a date with Tim and Curly" I said.

"Darry is going to KILL us if he ever finds out about this."

"Which is why Tim is picking us up at the lot and not here."

The morning went by pretty fast. Tori and I decided that we'd head on over to the Tastee freeze for lunch that day.

"So, are you excited about going out tonight?" I asked.

"Surprisingly I am. You?"

"Yeah. I mean, after all it will be my first date. But I am kinda nervous."

"Who could blame ya? I was nervous when I went on my first date with you know who."

Of course, she was talking about her ex-boyfriend, Ryan. She didn't like to talk about him at all. She didn't even like to look at him. I wouldn't either after the way he treated her. Luckily for her though, she's the one who dumped him.

Pretty soon we arrived at the Tasty freeze. Every greaser kid who didn't go to school was there.

"Take a seat anywhere" said one of the waiters.

Tori and I took a seat in a both in the back. I was looking over the menu when I looked up and saw Two-Bit coming our way. What was he doing here? I thought he actually liked going to school (just for kicks that is).

"It's Two-bit" I said.

"Two-Bit? Where?" asked Tori.

"Right here" said Two-Bit, sitting right next to Tori in the booth.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you suppose to be at school?" I asked.

"Yeah but it's lunch time. I don't eat lunch at school. Darry let y'all stay home today?"

"Yeah, we got home really late last night. You shoulda been there, I hit Steve's dad right in the nose and made it bleed" said Tori, almost as if she was proud of it.

"Really? I didn't know you had it in you to hit someone like that. Not that the jackass probably wasn't asking for it."

"Trust me, he was " I said.

"And where were you during this whole ordeal?" asked Two-Bit, slurping the cherry coke that he had brought with him.

"I was standing right there. I was going to hit him but Tori beet me to it" I said. I was lying. I could never hit someone like that, not even if my life depended on it. I'm not the fighting type.

"Oh, well, listen, I gotta get goin' but I'll see y'all tonight" said Two-Bit getting up.

"Ok. Bye Two-Bit" I said.

"yeah, bye" said Tori. Two-bit waved to us as he left the restaurant.

"You know, he just made me think of something" I said.

"What's that?"

"We can't let any of the gang know about tonight. All of them might hurt us."

"What's the worst they could do to us? I mean, it's not like they can ground us or anything. There not our parents."

"That's true but I don't know. I have a feeling that they all would be terribly upset if they ever found out. I don't want to upset anybody."

"Me neither."

Tori and I finished up our lunch and headed back to the Curtis house. In a couple of hours or so, we both started getting ready to go out. We actually looked kinda nice and Tori put on some of the make up that I had bought in town that day.

"You girls look really nice? Where are you going?" asked Darry.

"We'd figure it'd be nice to have a girls night out tonight since it's a Friday night" lied Tori. Tori had changed over the past couple of days. First she's hitting people who are almost thirty years older then her and now she's lying to authority figures. Something had gotten into her and to be honest, I liked it.

"Ok, but be home by midnight. I don't wanna hafta stay up all night waiting for you like last time."

"Ok, we'll be home by then" I said, "bye, Darry."

"Bye Darry" said Tori, running out the door. I was following close behind.

"That was close" I said when we were about half way to the lot, "for a second there I was about to tell him our whole plane."

"Oh I know me too. He's got this look in his eye that just makes you wanna tell the truth." Darry did have the funny look in his eyes. It drove me crazy. I'd lie to him and then 10 seconds later I'd be like "I lied to you, I'm so sorry!" and he'd just give me a weird look.

Tori and I waited in the lot until we saw Tim's black T-bird pull into the lot.

We walked slowly over to the car, a bit hesitant at first and keeping our eyes on the road that led to the Curtis house, making sure that no one would be heading our way.

"Hey Tim" said Tori as she climbed into the backseat with Curly.

"Hey" said Tim, more to me then to Tori.

"What do y'all wanna do first?" asked Tim.

"Let's go to the drive-in. I heard they got a lot of good movies playing there tonight" I said. Anything to get us away from here, where someone might see us.

"Drive-in it is" said Tim. Tim's driving reminded me of Dally's. His turns where so sharp, some of them made me sick. I was thankful that we got to the drive-in in one piece.

"I'm gonna go get popcorn. Anybody want anything?" asked Tim.

"No. I'm fine" I said, sliding down in my seat a little ways.

Tori and Curly shook there heads "no". I watched out the rear view mirror as Tim walked up to the concession stand. I studied the faces of the people around us. Nobody I knew, except for a few kids from school which is ok cause they wouldn't care.

"You lookin' for someone?" asked Curly. I guess he noticed that I was more focused on what was going on outside the window then what was happening in the movie.

"No, just lookin'" I replied.

"You ok? Your actin' a little strange tonight. More than usual" said Tori.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

At that time, Tim came back with the popcorn. We continued watching the movie in silence.

About half way through the movie, Tim put his arm around my shoulder. A cold chill ran through my whole body. I checked the rear view mirror again. I still didn't see any member of the gang.

I let out a slow breathe. Maybe no one was going to see us and things where going to be alright after all.

"You feelin' ok? You don't look so good" asked Tim, turning to face me.

I faced him and said "yeah, fine." There was a certain feeling in the car that wasn't there when the night started. I looked right in Tim's eyes. I had never noticed how cold they were before. They reminded me of Dally's eyes, except they didn't have so much hate or soul in them. I leaned in a little closer towards Tim. He leaned closer towards me. We were about two seconds away from kissing when I felt a cold, firm grip on my arm, ripping me out of the car.

"What are you doing! I thought I told you to stay the hell away from Tim!" screamed Dallas, who was pulling Tori out of the car the same way he did me. Dallas was yelling at us so load, people were staring as they passed by.

"Dallas, chill, we weren't doing anything!" yelled Tori.

"It didn't look like anything to me, Tori! It looked like you and Curly was kissin' in the backseat there! And you," Dallas turned toward, "you disappointed me tonight! Both of you did! Get in the, I'm taking you home! Wait till Darry hears about this."

"NO!" yelled Tori and I at the same time.

"We're sixteen, Dallas, we're old enough to make our own decisions about who to date!" I yelled. Dallas was surprised a little that I had yelled at him like that. Nobody ever talked to him like that.

"No, you're not! Now get in the car, I'm taking you both home" yelled Dallas.

"No. I would rather eat dirt then get in a car with you after you just humiliated us like that!" screamed Tori as she marched off in the other direction.

"I hate you, Dallas Winston! I never want to see you again!" I followed Tori in whichever direction she was going.

Tori and I marched ourselves right out of the drive-in, leaving Dallas in bewilderment.

"I can't believe he just did that!" I yelled. I was mad at Dallas for ruining my first date and what was probably going to be my first kiss.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Tori. Her voice was a little more calmer then what it was 10 minutes ago.

"What do you mean 'what are we gonna do?'" I asked.

"We can't go back to that house. Dallas'll tell everybody and we'll get kicked out" said Tori. She had a point there. Darry would've thrown us out for sure.

"I don't know. Maybe we should go over to Buck's place and see if he's got any rooms available" I suggested.

"It's better then stayin' on the streets" said Tori. We started making our way over to Buck's when it started to rain. The perfect ending to the worst night.

We arrived at Buck's soaking wet.

"What do you kids want?" asked Buck.

"Is Dallas here?" I asked. I wanted to know if Dallas was there before we got a room.

"No, he ain't here. Left about two hours ago. You lookin' for him?"

"No. We need a place to stay for the night" said Tori.

"Alrighty but it'll cost ya" said Buck.

"How much?" I asked.

" 'bout 50."

I pulled out half of last weeks paycheck. Oddly enough it was exactly 50. I handed the money to Buck and he showed us to our room. Buck left us with the key.

"Not bad" said Tori, "kinda small though."

"Real small" I said, throwing myself down on the bed. For some reason, I started crying.

"Kelsey, what's wrong?" asked Tori, sitting down next to me.

"I dunno. Just tired I guess."

"Yeah, these past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy, haven't they? I mean, one week we're sitting in Spanish listening to Senora Auguste getting on to Kyle and Drew for talking during class and the next we're pumping gas at a gas station in Tulsa and hangin' out with guys named Sodapop and Ponyboy."

"Things have been happening so fast lately, it's just all getting to me I guess."

"Yeah, you know who I was thinking about today?"

"Who?"

"Michael. I miss him. Him and his red hair."

"Yeah, I miss him too. You know who I was thinking about today?" I asked.

"Who?" asked Tori.

"My mom and dad. I mean, I'll be 16 pretty soon and I won't be there to celebrate it with them" I said. My parents must've been devastated about no celebrating.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about mine too. I kinda miss them."  
"I'm getting tired. I think I'm gonna go to be" I said, laying down on the bed. Tori got up and looked the door. Who knows what kind of weirdo's lurk around Buck's all hours of the night.

I was sleeping peacefully until I heard a loud knock on the door.

"Who could that be at this hour?" asked Tori. Apparently the noise had woken her up too.

"I dunno, I'll go see" I said, getting up.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Tim. Let me in."

I turned on the lights and let Tim in. He looked terrible. Someone had beaten him up real bad.

"Tim, what happened?" asked Tori.

"Dallas. He beat me up pretty good after you left. He's pretty pissed."

"I imagine he is. I'm sorry." I felt the need to apologize.

"It's ok. It ain't your fault" said Tim. But in a weird way it was. We were the ones who agreed to go out.

"What are you doing here?" asked Tori.

"I figured since Darrys' probably thrown y'all out, you might like to come stay with me at my house. It's better then having to pay 50 bucks a night to crash here" said Tim.

"Give us some time to think about it, will ya?" asked Tori.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be downstairs." Tim left us to talk things over.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"I think we should. I mean, the rest of the gang is probably already upset with us, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I think we should too. I mean, I don't want to hafta spend 600 dollars a week here."

"Ok. Let's go get Tim."

Both ran down the stairs, racing each other to the bottom.

"Tim!" we both shouted.

"Right here" said Tim, who was standing right in front of us.

"We've decided to go with you. Can we leave now?" asked Tori.

"Yeah, sure. I'll show you to the car."


	18. Tim's house

Sorry this chapter took so long. I have a lot of other stuff going on like exams at school. Hope you like it!

Chapter 17

It was starting to get light out. Tim's house looked like the Curtis house on the outside but totally different on the inside. The inside was a mess. It looked like what New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit .

As soon as we got inside, Tori and I crashed on the couch, that's how tired we were. I must've been asleep for four hours when Tori woke me up.

"Where are we?" asked Tori. She obviously didn't remember Tim inviting us to stay with him.

"We're at Tim's house, remember? He said that we could stay here" I said, still half asleep.

"Oh yeah. That's right. I remember now. I guess I'm a little more tired then what I thought I was."

"Yeah, probably. Hey, where's Tim?" I asked.

"I dunno. He said that he was going out and that we could borrow some of Angela's clothes if we needed to." Me? Wear Angela's clothes? Only if I had to.

"Let's go see what she has" I said, getting up off the couch. We found Angela's room without any trouble, I mean it did have a sign that said "Angela's room" on the door. I took one look at her closet and thought 'this is never going to work.'

"What is she? A prostitute?" asked Tori, holding up one of Angela's skirts.

"If she wears these clothes, she must be" I said. I decided to try some of her clothes on. They fit but it wasn't really me, but then I thought of Dallas and what his face would look like if he ever saw me in this outfit. I liked it. I wanted nothing more then to get back at Dallas that second.

"I like it" I said aloud.

"You actually like this stuff?" asked Tori.

"Yeah. You should try it on" I said. Tori at first objected to the idea, but I talked her into it.

When she had the outfit on I said, "what a babe!" Not in a gay way.

"I don't know. This really isn't us."

"True but picture Dally's face when he sees us in these clothes." Tori thought for a moment and then said "I like it."

Tori and I put on some make-up and made our way out. We couldn't stay cooped up in that house all day. For some reason, we went to the park. There was nothing better to do.

I swung on the swings while Tori watched from the top of the jungle gym.

"What are we doing here?" asked Tori.

"I don't know. I guess there's nothing better to do then to go to the park and hang out with the little kids." There were tons of little kids and lovers around. Some kid got mad at me for taking her place on the swing set. Then suddenly, I saw the gang coming down the road from Sodapop's house.

"Tori look" I said, pointing to the gang, "we gotta hide."

Tori jumped down from the jungle gym. We ran and hid underneath the slide. I poked my head out from behind the slide and thought I saw one of them look over our way but I wasn't sure.

"I thought you said you wanted to get revenge on Dal?" asked Tori.

"I do but just him. Not everybody else." I watched as the gang slowly circled the park and then went in the other direction.

"That was close" I said, coming out from behind the slide.

"A little too close if you ask me" said Tori, "let's go to the movie theatre. Nobody will see us in there."

"Good idea." So Tori and I walked, or rather jogged over to the theatre. But to make things worse, the whole gang was at the movies. And ironically, we all went to go see the same thing. While they got seats up front, we sat all the way in the very back so that they couldn't see us. I was too busy keeping my eye on them to pay attention to what was going on on the screen. I decided that this was too nerve racking and I had to get out of there. Tori followed me out and asked "what was that about?"

"I don't know. I just had to get out of there."

"So now what do you want to do?" asked Tori.

"I don't know. Lets just walk around for a little while, maybe we'll come up with something."

"Ok."

It was a pretty day out. It was sunny and the birds where singing. It reminded me of North Carolina. I could picture myself in the tube, on a hot summers day, being pulled in the water, watching as the mountains went by. Or sitting on the dock, just before the sun went down, watching as all the boaters and fishermen where heading in for the day, the fishermen getting ready to cook the days catch I suppose. How I longed to be back in North Carolina, away from all the noise and distraction that a big city like Tulsa has.

North Carolina, over the years, had become my home away from home. I can remember my first trip up there. We had to fit a family of four into a tiny five seater car. Eight hours sitting next to your big sister who annoys you isn't so much fun. The house we had was high on top of a mountain overlooking a lake. The house looked like it was about ready to fall because it practically hung over the side of the mountain. I think that's where my fear of heights started.

"I wonder whats going on at home" said Tori, out of the blue.

"Which home? The Curtis house or Jacksonville?" I asked.

"Jacksonville. I wonder what our parents and the rest of our families are doing. They must be worried sick about us" said Tori.

"Yeah. They must be. Could you imagine your kids missing?"

"No. I would freak."

"You wanna go back to Tim's house? Maybe he's home by now" I said randomly.

Tori looked at me strange but then said "Yeah, sure."

So we made our way back to Tim's house, past the movie theatre, and past the park. Tim was sitting on the front porch with one of his friends, playing cards and smoking.

"Hey Tim" said Tori.

"Hey. You two get into Angela's closet?" asked Tim through his cigarette smoke.

"Yeah. You got a problem with that?" I asked.

"Nope. Not at all. This is Joe, he's from the Brumley gang."

"Hey" said Joe.

Tori and I both said "hey."

"So what have y'all been up to all day?" asked Tim.

"Sleepin' and wonderin' around mostly. What have you been up to?" I asked.

"Nothin' really. Just had to take care of some business with some of the Brumley boys. Nothin' too important. Why don't y'all join us? We was just 'bout to start a new game" said Tim.

"No thanks. I don't know how to play" I said. Tori said about the same thing.

"How 'bout a smoke?" asked Joe, handing me a pack of cigarettes. I took one but I wasn't sure if I was going to use it. Smoking wasn't really my thing. I gave the pack to Tori and she passed it up, which is understandable because she has asthma.

I decided that maybe just one cigarette wasn't going to kill me, so I asked Tim for a lighter.

"I didn't know you smoked" said Tori.

"I don't. I figured I'd try something new" I said.

Tori just gave me an evil look. I knew I was doing the wrong thing but the curiosity was killing me and I had to know. You may or may not understand, but when your as sheltered as I am, you get to have a strong curiosity about things like drugs and smoking and all of that.

Tori and I sat out there for about an hour before we headed inside. It was getting cold out and I wasn't in the mood to get sick.

We stayed at Tim's house for about a week or two. We were there so long I had almost forgotten about the gang. I hadn't thought about them since the night we ran into Dallas at the drive in. To be honest, I was starting to miss Dallas. I know I said I never wanted to see him again but I'm not known for holding a grudge against people for very long. It's just not my thing. Unless your Tori that is, then I can hold a grudge against you for a very long time.

I was sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper, and Tori was watching TV when Tim came in through the front door.

"Hey Tim" I said, absent mindedly.

"Hey" said Tim, sitting down in the chair next to the couch.

"Whats happening?" asked Tori.

"Nothin' much. There's a party down at Buck's tonight if y'all wanna come" said Tim.

Tori and I both said "yeah sure." We were too interested in what we were doing to pay attention to what Tim was talking about. Tim must have realized that we weren't really paying attention because he got up and left the room.

"What was he talking about?" asked Tori.

"I dunno. Something about a party at Buck's place tonight. He said we could go" I said.

"You wanna go?"

"Why not? We've got nothing better to do" I said.

"That's true. But what if we see the gang there?"

"So? Who cares?"

Tori just shrugged it off and went back to watching whatever she was watching on TV. I could tell that she missed the gang too. She wouldn't of asked about them if she didn't miss them.

I got up and decided to go get ready. I put on whatever I could find in Angela's closet, which wasn't much. Tori did the same except she put on a little more then I did. I put on some make-up and headed over to Buck's with Tori.

"You know, this will be our first party that we've ever been to, besides birthday parties" said Tori. I hadn't thought about it but she did bring up a good point. We hadn't been to a "real party" yet. We were only 15 so we really hadn't had time yet.

We arrived at Buck's place around 7ish. It took us a little while to get there since we had to walk.

Some strange guy that wasn't Buck answered the door. He just looked at us weird but let us in. There were tons of people in there, cowboy rodeo people that is. Most of them smelled like they had been in a barn all day and didn't bother to take a shower.

Tori and I sat down at a table where there was a poker game going on. There was even a fight while we were there. Some redneck guy made fun of this white guy's girl 'cause she was black. The white guy got so made that he knocked the other guy into a table and broke it. Buck ended up throwin' them out 'cause he didn't want anymore of his tables broken.

"You girls havin' a good time?" asked Tim, who came up form behind us. He had a beer in both hands and looked like he had had enough already.

"Here, I wanna introduce you to some of my friends" said Tim, pulling us out of the chairs we were sitting in. So, we made our rounds with Tim as he introduced us to his friends. Most of his girl friends were kinda skanky looking. Once Tim was done, we sat down on the floor and played more poker.

"You want one?" asked Tim, handing me a beer.

"No" I said.

"Come on. Are you afraid?" asked Tim, his voice kind of slurred.

"No, I'm not afraid" I said.

"Then take it."

"No." I was starting to get a little irritated.

"Come on."

"No, Tim."

"Come on."

"No!" And with that I pushed the bottle away one last time. I pushed it so hard that I knocked it out of Tim's hands and it shattered on the floor. I had to get away from Tim. I didn't want to be near him the whole night if he was going to try and get me to drink. I may have taken his offer up on smoking but that's as far as I wanted to go. I decided to go over to the bar area where Tori was. She wasn't drinking or anything, she just got bored watching everyone else play poker.

"You ok? What happened?" asked Tori.

"Yeah I'm fine. I just don't want to be with Tim the rest of the night is all."

"Why?"

"Just because. It's nothing really."

"If you say so."

Tori and I got quite for a minute. Then someone came and sat a seat down from us. Someone very familiar.

"Tori, look over there" I said, gesturing to my left.

Tori looked over and said "what's Soda doing here? I thought he didn't come here."

"I don't know." Just then, someone came and sat next to Soda, someone who was also very familiar.

"Dallas too?" asked Tori.

"Well I would expect to find him here" I said, trying to hide my face so that they couldn't see it, but it was too late.

"Kelsey? Tori?" asked Soda. There was no use in trying to hide from them now.

"What are you doing here?" asked Soda. I turned to look at him but I couldn't. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to look him straight in the eye. But before we had time to answer, Dallas was pulling us outside.

"Where have you been? And what are you wearing?" asked Dallas to no one specific.

"We've been at the Shepard house and we're wearing Angela's clothes" I said.

"What? Why?" asked Soda.

"Dallas never told you?" asked Tori.

"About you two and the Shepard boys? Yeah he told us. You thought we were mad at you, didn't you?" asked Soda.

"Well, yeah. I mean, Darry did tell us to stay away from them" said Tori.

"That's true, but he was only mad for that one night" said Soda, lighting up a cigarette. I knew that he never smoked unless he wanted to look tuff or something was bothering him, and we all knew that he was tuff, so something must have been wrong.

"Something bothering you?" I asked.

"No, you two have just been gone for two weeks without a trace and had the rest of us worried sick. You two nearly gave Darry and I a heart attack" said Soda. He had this look in his eye that said he was mad, but happy to see us again. It was then that I realized how much the gang really cared about us. It made me not want to go back to 2006, but I knew I had to. It's where I belonged. If God wanted me to live in the 60's He would've put me in the 60's.

"I'm sorry Soda. We didn't mean to scare ya" said Tori, "it's just that, Dallas made us so upset, we had to get out."

"I understand. Come on, lets get you guys home and out of those clothes" said Soda. We took Dallas' car home. Once Tori and Sodapop had already gone inside, I decided that I needed to talk to Dallas.

"Hey, Dal" I said.

Dallas turned around and said "what?"

"I'm sorry I got so mad at you the other night. I didn't mean what I said about you, you know about hating you and never wanting to see you again. I don't hate you, I was just mad" I said. I felt better after saying that. I really didn't mean to say all that mean stuff to him.

"It's ok. I'm use to it" said Dallas.

"There's just,……….there's something you gotta understand about 16 year old girls, not just Tori and I but any girl, is that when they get to be about 16 normally they are allowed to choose who they want to date, unless there parents are those parents who arrange there marriage. You might not understand now, but when you have a 16 year old daughter who wants to start dating if she hasn't already, you gotta understand that she's growing up and when it comes to stuff like guys, you gotta let her choose and judge for herself. You wouldn't be able to make that decision for her because A. she'd hate you forever and B. she would be happy with some one that you pick. It may not make any sense now, but it will later" I said. I hope he understood all that I was saying.

"I think I get what your saying. It's kinda the same with guys, except it's a little different" said Dallas, "and maybe I did over react but that's just the way I am."

"I understand" I said. I started to walk inside when I heard Dallas say "it's just that, you and Tori have become like little sisters to me and I don't want ya getting hurt." Maybe there was a soft side to Dallas Winston after all, but I do have to admit, I like the bad boy side better. I can't picture Dallas being soft.

When we walked inside, everybody, and I mean everybody, was in the living room. They all looked at me like I was a stranger, but I probably did look like a stranger to them in these clothes.

"Where have you been?" asked Darry.

"We were at the Shepard house" replied Tori, her voice almost a whisper.

I said "We're sorry Darry." For some reason, I looked over at Ponyboy. He just looked at me with sadness, almost as if he were about to cry.

"Your both grounded for two weeks" said Darry. I smiled, even though I wasn't suppose to be happy about punishment. I was just glad to be back and I didn't care if Darry was grounding us.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed" I said.

"Yeah, me too" said Tori. Nobody said good night. Nobody said anything.

"It feels good to be back" said Tori as we changed back into our old clothes.

"Yeah. It does. I'm gonna go wash all this make-up off before I go to bed" I said, leaving the room. Someone was in the bathroom so I had to wait.

Ponyboy came out. He looked at me and said "that's a lot better." I guess he was referring to my clothes. Then, out of nowhere, he hugged me. I was happy to see him too. I knew it was going to be hard for me to go back to 2006 after realizing how much the gang wanted Tori and I here.


	19. I don't want to go back

Chapter 18

It took us a couple of weeks to get caught up with school, but Tori and I did it somehow. It was always hard for me to catch up in school after I had been out for a long time.

When Ponyboy and I were walking down the hall to the parking lot, I noticed a big poster that said "A night under the stars prom. April 16. 7-12 pm at the Dance Hall downtown."

Ponyboy must have noticed that I was looking at the poster because he asked "you goin' to prom?"

"Can freshman go to prom?" I asked. At my school, it was only juniors and seniors unless you were asked by a junior or senior.

"Yeah, sure" said Ponyboy.

"Nobodies asked me yet so I don't know if I'm going" I said, "have you asked anybody yet?"

"Not yet. I don't really know if I wanna go yet."

"Ok, fine" I said.

We walked out to the parking lot and met Tori and Two-bit out there.

"Where's Johnny?" asked Tori.

"I dunno. I think he had something after school today" I said. Tori just shrugged and climbed into the backseat of the car. I sat next to her while Two-Bit drove and Ponyboy sat up front. The car ride was all to quite so I decided to start a conversation.

"So, Two-Bit, are you going to prom this year?"

"Yep."

"Who?"

"This girl named Hannah. She's a senior, you don't know her" said Two-Bit.

"Is she tall with blonde hair and blue eyes? Cheerleader?" I asked.

"yeah."

"I think I've seen her before. I mean, I don't know her personally but I know who she is" I said.

"I haven't asked her yet but I know she'll say yes" said Two-Bit.

"Or at least he hopes she will" added Ponyboy.

"Since when do you have a smart mouth?" asked Two-Bit.

"Since forever" replied Pony. The rest of the car ride was quite. I was too busy thinking to carry on a conversation. I was thinking about who was going to ask me to prom. I was hoping that Dallas would ask me but then I remember that he liked me as a sister, not girlfriend. But still, I can dream, can't I?

Two-Bit pulled up in front of the house and let us out. He didn't stay with us. Tori and I got started on our homework while Ponyboy read some book.

Just as I was about finished with my math homework, Soda came home.

"Hey, is the mail here yet?" yelled Soda as he did every day. Every day it was the same routine when he got home from work. I didn't even have to look up to know that he would throw his jacket toward the sofa and miss it, kick his shoes off, and go to the kitchen for a glass of chocolate milk. It's what he did everyday, I don't know why but that's what he did.

"Hey Soda" I said "how was work today?"

"It was good. The boss says that y'all need to come back tomorrow. I told him that y'all have been sick for the past two weeks" said Soda.

"Ok" said Tori. I was actually looking forward to going back to work. I needed to get back into the swing of things even though it was hard for me to do most of the time.

"What time do you think Darry'll be home?" asked Tori.

"I don't know. Probably in about an hour or so" said Soda.

Darry came home in about an hour and we all ate dinner. We had spaghetti that night. It's not one of my favorite dishes but I'll eat it.

"So what happened in ya'lls day today?" asked Darry.

"Nothing really" I said.

There was a silence between us all. I was about half way through my spaghetti when I heard something ringing in our room. It sounded like a cell phone.

"What's that sound?" asked Ponyboy.

Tori and I shot up from the table, nearly knocking our chairs over, and ran to our room to turn the phone off. It turned out to be Tori's phone alarm, reminding us that Ghost Hunters was on TV in 2006.

"You brought your phone with you?" I asked.

"I didn't mean too. I guess it was in my pajama pocket with the money" said Tori. I was a bit confused by how a phone that wouldn't come out until 2004 could work in 1966. It just didn't make any sense.

"I hope they didn't hear that" said Tori.

"I think they did" I said. Tori turned her phone off and we both went back to the kitchen.

"What was that all about?" asked Soda.

"Oh, nothing" said Tori.

"Yeah, it was nothing" I said. Soda just gave us a strange look and went back to finishing his dinner. Both Tori and I were done , so we put our plates in the sink and watched TV. After about thirty minutes of TV, I decided to go sit outside. It was a nice night out and sense everyone came over after dinner, it was starting to get a little crowded in the living room. I'm claustrophobic so too many people in one small room makes me freak. I guess that's why I liked being outside so much. There's no such thing as a small space outside.

I sat on one of the chairs that was facing the street and looked up at the stars. They were really pretty that night. I hadn't seen stars in a long time. When you live in an area that's surrounded by lights, you don't get to see the stars. The stars made me wonder what was outside of Tulsa and Jacksonville. I hadn't really seen much else besides those two cities. While my mind was wondering about what lie outside the borderers of the city, Darry came out and sat next to me.

"You ok? You were acting a little odd at dinner tonight" said Darry.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I said, still a little out of it.

"You know, we really missed you and Tori while you were gone" said Darry.

"I'm sorry, Dar. I didn't mean to upset you………..or anyone else" I said.

"That's ok, just don't let it happen again. You and Tori shouldn't be hanging around Tim and his friends, or dressing like Angela. Both of you are better then that" said Darry.

"I know. My mom tells me stuff like that all the time" I said. I would always do something stupid and my mom would always say something like "why did you do that? You're better then that." I could hear my moms voice in my head right now telling me that.

"You miss 'em, don't ya?" asked Darry.

"Miss who?"

"Your parents. They haven't come yet" said Darry.

"Yeah, but they'll be here soon."

"Don't worry about it. I miss mine too. They died about 8 months ago in an auto wreck. Leaving me here to look after Pony and Soda, with no relations to speak of."

"You know you could have put them in a boys home and gone to college or something" I said.

"I guess I could of but I would never be able to separate my brothers like that. It would kill us. Ponyboy couldn't stand being separated from Soda" said Darry.

I put my around Darry and said "he couldn't stand being away from you either. I know if I had a brother like you, I wouldn't want to be apart from him."

Darry smiled one of his rare smiles and said "yeah, I guess your right. It's too bad I didn't get little sisters like you and Tori but, I guess you two are almost like sisters now." I could hear the screen door opening and knew that Tori was coming out to join us. She sat next to me in one of the other chairs.

"What are y'all talkin' about?" asked Tori.

"Nothin'. Just talkin' " said Darry.

"About what?" asked Tori.

"Parents mostly. Family too" I said.

"Interesting I guess" said Tori.

"Yeah, real interesting" I said.

"Hey, look, the stars are out tonight" said Tori, wanting desperately to change the subject.

"Y'all don't have stars where your from?" asked Darry.

"We do, but we don't see them very often 'cause there's so many lights" I said, gazing up at the sky.

"I'm gonna go in, y'all comin'?" asked Darry.

"No, I think I'm gonna stay out here a little while longer" I said.

"Yeah, me too" said Tori.

Darry went in and closed the door behind him. I had learned something new about Darry that night. When I first came here, I looked at him as an authority figure but now I look at him as a kid. He was a kid who just lost his parents and had to look after a bunch of younger kids and take on all these adult responsibilities that he wasn't exactly ready for yet. He reminded me of my sister Jillian back home. Except she didn't have to look after my brother and I.

"Kelsey" said Tori.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I want to go back."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, I don't think I want to go back to 2006 with you. I like it better here then I do there. We kinda have a family here, ya know? It's almost like the family I never had. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom and dad, but the thought of them not being together anymore, it just tears me apart, ya know?" said Tori. I remember the day she told me about her parents. I was on the phone with her when all of the sudden she said "Kelsey, my parents are getting divorced." At first I thought she was joking cause she jokes like that, but then she started crying and I knew it was for real. I tried to help her ask best I could but how do you help someone when you don't know how to help them or what they're going through? I felt bad about not being able to help her all that much.

"I understand. But I can't stay with you. My life is back in Jacksonville, back in 2006. I mean, I like it here, but I don't think I could ever live here. But if you wanna stay, that's your choice and there's nothing I can do to stop you" I said.

"I wish you could stay with me" said Tori.

I smiled at her. Tori and I stayed out there all night, talking about God knows what. Eventually, we fell asleep on the bench that was on the porch. When morning came, I could feel the warm sun light on my face and I immediately thought that we had gone back. I wasn't ready to go back just yet so I started freaking out.

"No! No!" I screamed "I don't wanna go back!"

"Kelsey, chill, it's just me" said Steve.

I opened my eyes to find Steve standing over me.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You were having a dream. You two fall asleep out here or something?"

"I guess so" I said, sitting up and rubbing my arm. I had slept on my arm funny and it was sore. For once in my life, I was actually happy to see Steve.


	20. We're from the future

Chapter 19

A couple of days passed and nobody asked me to prom. I decided that it was probably best to go with Tori and the rest of the gang. We were meeting at the Curtis house before and then going to the dance hall.

That day, Tori and I went dress shopping. We were in some dress store when I found the perfect dress. It was white with a bow in the back and sequins all over the front. Tori got a dress that was blue and was similar to mine except it didn't have sequin. Both of us bought long gloves to go with our dresses.

"What are we going to do about our hair?" asked Tori. That was an unusual question for her to ask since she doesn't normally care about hair, or make-up, or anything like that.

"I dunno. Probably just do it ourselves like everyone else does" I said.

"I know that. I meant as in what style?"

"Oh. I think I'm going to curl mine up at the end" I said, "what about you?"

"I dunno. I haven't thought about it really. I do wanna look really nice though" said Tori.

"Are you finally turning into a girl?"

"Well if I'm talking about hair and looking nice then I must be." For as long as I can remember, Tori was always a tomboy. She never liked doing her hair and she NEVER liked make-up.

When we got home, we hid the dresses from the rest of the gang. I was hoping that they would be surprised when they saw our dresses.

Pretty soon, it was time for dinner. We had chicken that night and surprisingly, it was just Tori, Soda, Darry, Pony, and I instead of the rest of the gang.

"So what did y'all do today?" asked Darry.

"Tori and I bought prom dresses" I said.

"Yeah? How much did they cost?"

"I think they were both about 50$ not including the gloves" said Tori.

"Don't worry, we paid for them with our own money" I said.

"What about shoes? Don't you need shoes to go with the dress?" asked Pony.

"Yeah, but we really didn't have enough to afford the shoes" I said.

"I'm sure we have something around here that'll work" said Soda.

"Yeah, probably" said Tori.

"Are you going to prom Pony?" I asked.

"Yeah" he said.

"With who?" asked Darry. He sounded a bit shocked.

"This girl. You don't know her" was all he said.

I just shrugged and went back to eating my dinner. I thought it was nice that Ponyboy had someone to go to prom with. It's not like I was expecting him to ask me or anything. He's almost like my little brother now. It would be awkward to go with someone who's like a brother to the prom.

"Who's everyone else going with?" asked Soda. I kept forgetting that Soda wasn't in school anymore.

"Um, I think we're all going as a group, except Two-Bit, I think he has a date" I said.

"No, Two-Bit doesn't have a date" said a voice from behind me. I turned around to see Two-Bit walking into the kitchen.

"She turn you down?" asked Tori.

"Yeah. She said that someone else had asked her and she said yes" said Two-bit.

"Oh well, you can go with us" I said.

I finished my dinner and put my dishes in the sink. It was my turn to do the dishes that night. Tori sat in the kitchen with me, while the guys went into the living room and did whatever they wanted.

I washed the dishes while Tori sat on the counter and dried them.

"When are we going to tell them?" asked Tori.

"Tell them what?"

"Tell them that we are from the future" said Tori.

"I dunno. I haven't really thought about. I don't know if we should tell them" I said. I know it may sound stupid but I didn't really want to tell them. I was afraid that it might ruin things for us and they might not want us there. When Tori and I were finished with the dishes, we decided to go for a walk.

We about half way to the park when Ponyboy came running up behind us. It looked like something had happened back at the house.

"Pony, what's wrong?" asked Tori in a concerned tone.

"Darry" replied Ponyboy.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He hit me. He found about my 'C' in English, and I dunno, he just hit me" said Pony between breaths.

"Why don't you walk with us? You can cool off" suggested Tori.

All Ponyboy said was "ok."

So the three of us walked to the park, talking about a bunch of different things.

When we got to the park, we sat down underneath the old oak tree.

"I like sitting under this tree. I remember my mom taking me to play here when I was little" said Ponyboy, "she'd sit under the tree and read me stories until I fell asleep."

"You miss her don't you?" asked Tori.

"Terribly" said Ponyboy, "when someone close to you dies, it's like you lose a part of yourself."

"I came close to knowing how you feel" I said. When I was 13, my mom got a brain aneurism. It's this thing that pinches a blood vessel in your brain so that the blood builds up behind it and if it burst you die. I'm not sure if it's like that for every type of aneurism but it's like that for brain aneurisms.

"What happened?" asked Ponyboy.

I explained to him about my mom. Tori had already heard it a couple of times before. I also told them about my sister. When she was younger, she cut her head and it got infected. She was on her death bead. I'll never forget when I was 5 years old and seeing my sister lying motionless in a hospital bed with all these tubes and cords hooked up to her. My parents told me that she was asleep but I later learned that she was in a coma and dieing.

"She's ok now, isn't she?" asked Ponyboy.

"Yeah, she's fine" I said, "or at least, I think she is."

"I don't know what I would do if I lost an older sibling like that" said Ponyboy, "I know it may seem like I only like Soda and could live without Darry but that's not true. After all, he is my brother too. If we didn't have Darry here to keep us in line, the house would be total chaos" said Ponyboy.

"If Darry wasn't here to keep you in line, you wouldn't be here at all. You'd be in some boys home, away from everyone you know and love" I said.

"That's true. I never thought about that" said Ponyboy.

"Maybe you should tell him that you can't live without him. I think he thinks that you only like Soda or that you like Soda more then him" said Tori.

"I've tried but I just can't. It's hard to be sensitive to anybody else in the gang besides you two, Soda, and Johnny. They'd all think I was off my rocker if I started acting soft" said Ponyboy.

"I think they already think you've gone crazy" I said, jokingly of course.

"Thanks. I feel much better now" said Pony sarcastically.

"She was only joking. You should know by now that she always jokes like that" said Tori.

Ponyboy laid down in the grass and looked up at the leaves that hung low over our heads. I decided that laying down wasn't such a bad idea and joined him. Tori followed my action.

"Can I tell you guys something?" asked Ponyboy.

"Anything" I said.

"You promise you won't tell the guys? They would totally think I was soft if they ever knew about this" said Ponyboy.

"What is it?" asked Tori.

"Well, call me crazy, but I like to watch sunsets. I always watch 'em when Darry tells me to take the trash out. They're kinda cool, ya know? They have all of those different colors and different shades of those colors" said Ponyboy.

"That's not weird at all. I think that's kind of neat. A lot of girls actually find sensitivity in a guy appealing" said Tori.

"You think?" asked Ponyboy.

"Yeah, just don't over do it. Like don't start wearing pink and cry at everything" said Tori.

"I think I would kill myself before I started wearing pink all the time" said Ponyboy.

"I have something to confess while we're being honest with each other" I said. I decided that maybe this was a good time to tell somebody that we were from 2006, "actually, Tori and I have something to confess."

Tori looked at me with a confused expression.

"Tori, we have to tell somebody. They're gonna find out sooner or later" I said. Tori just nodded, as if approving of something.

"Ponyboy" I began, "we're from the future."


	21. Angry Soda

Chapter 20

Ponyboy laughed and said "that's a good one. What did you really want to tell me?"

"We're not joking. We are from the future" said Tori. Ponyboy continued to laugh but stopped when he saw that we weren't kidding.

"You're serious, aren't you?" asked Ponyboy.

"Yeah. Why would we joke about that?" asked Tori.

"I dunno. I thought you were joking. How did you get here?" asked Pony.

"I dunno. We just woke up here one morning" I said.

"So, what year are y'all really from?"

"2006" said Tori.

"2006! Wow! So, what happens in 2006?"

"A lot of things are different. Like for instance, I have 5 TV's in my house instead of just one for everyone to share. And we have computers and ipods and cell phones and a lot of other things" I said.

"Computer? Cell phones? Ipods? What are those?" asked Ponyboy.

"Computers are these things were you can play games and get information. It's kind of like a work station were you can do anything like listen to music and look up stuff" said Tori.

"And cell phones are portable phones. They don't have cords or anything" I said.

"What about those things? Ipods I think you called them" said Ponyboy.

"Oh, ipods are these things were you can listen to music anytime and anywhere you want. There kinda like portable radios except you can choose want songs you wanna hear" said Tori.

"Anything else you can tell me about the future?" asked Ponyboy.

"No. I think it's dangerous for someone to know too much about the future" I said. For minute there I started to sound like Doc from Back to the Future.

"But you gotta promise not to tell anyone."

"Why?" asked Ponyboy.

"Because we don't want anyone else to know yet. We only told you because we figured you wouldn't flip out on us like the rest of them would" said Tori.

Pony just nodded and asked "so, when are y'all goin' back?"

"Why? Do you want us to leave already?" I asked.

"No, I just wanted to know when you're goin' back" said Pony.

"I don't know" I replied, "but I hope it's not any time soon. I really like it here."

Ponyboy looked down at his feat with an expression that looked like he was going to cry.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't want y'all to go back. You see, your probably gonna go back and forget all about us" said a teary eyed Ponyboy.

"We could never forget y'all" said Tori.

"Yeah. It's almost impossible to forget any of you guys. Pony I think it's safe to say that you've become like a little brother to us over the past weeks. We'll come back and visit if we can" I said. I was just saying that to make Ponyboy feel better. Then I thought it was going to be impossible to ever visit them again. But then again, I thought it was impossible to meet the gang from the Outsiders and somehow we did.

"You think I would like it in the future?" asked Pony.

"Hard to say. I think you belong here. You would stick out like a sore thumb with all that grease in you hair and everything. All of y'all would stick out" said Tori.

"I think you would. It would just be a big shock to you is all because so much has happened between the 60's and 2006" I said.

"Like what?"

"Lots of stuff. Stuff that you don't really need to know about just yet" said Tori. Tori was right. There were a lot of things in the future that the gang didn't need to know about just yet. Like I said, knowing too much about the future could be dangerous.

"Let's go home, they're probably wondering where we are by now" said Tori. I looked down at my watch and realized that we had been gone for a little over two hours now. So Tori, Pony, and I walked home. When we got home, Darry asked "where were you?"

"We went for a walk and we hung out at the park for a little while" I said.

Darry just looked at us for a minute and then went back to reading the paper.

Just then, Soda came in through the front door. I didn't even know he had left.

"Where were you?" I asked.

"None of your business" snapped Soda. He never talked to anyone like that. Something must have been wrong.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Ponyboy. Apparently he had sensed something was wrong too.

"None of your business, ok? Just leave me alone!" snapped Soda and with that he marched out of the room and slammed his bedroom door. Well, actually, it was more like his and Pony's bedroom door but you get the picture. There was an awkward uneasiness in the room that had never been there before. I had never heard Sodapop yell like that. Sure, I had seen him mad and upset but he never, ever yelled. I left the room without saying a word. The uneasy feeling was getting to me and I had to leave. I was getting pretty tired so I started getting ready for bed. I laid in bed and thought about all the possible reasons why Soda was so upset that night. It couldn't of been something I had said, because I had really talked to him at all that day. Maybe it was something about Sandy. That was always a possibility. But then again, she was pregnant and living in Florida, and I imagined her parents made it so that she had no contact with any boy what so ever. That's what my parents would do if I ever got pregnant at 16. Actually, they would make it so that I wouldn't have any contact with the outside world period.

I was so focused on that, I didn't even hear Tori come in. She didn't even say so much as a good night. She just changed into her PJ's, climbed into bed, and fell asleep. Maybe she thought that Soda was mad at her, or both of us. The thought had never crossed my mind until she came in.

I was the first one up that morning so I had to make the breakfast. When I first came here, I had no idea how to make eggs but after watching Darry do it so many times I had picked up the skill pretty fast and I learned how everyone liked there eggs. Pony liked his hard, Darry liked his in a bacon-and-tomato sandwich (why anybody would want to eat tomatoes at all was beyond me. In case you didn't know, I HATE tomatoes with a passion) and, of course, Soda like his with grape jelly. How that boy could stand grape jelly, chocolate cake, and chocolate milk all in one morning I'll never know. I swear, Sodapop Curtis had the appetite of a four year old.

Tori and I didn't really like eggs so therefore we didn't like to have them any particular way.

Sodapop came stumbling out of his bedroom, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Morning" I said. Soda didn't say anything in return, almost as if he didn't hear me. He just went and sat down at the table.

"Not talking to me?" I know it was an obvious question but I had to try to get him to talk. He just glared at me and then turned to look in the other direction.

"I take that as a no. Here's your breakfast. You can get your own chocolate milk" I said, handing him the cake and eggs. I poured myself a glass of orange juice and sat down in the seat across from Soda. The room was quite until Darry sat down at the table to eat his breakfast.

When he noticed that Soda wasn't saying anything he asked "what's with you this morning? You've got the personality of a wet mop."

"Nothing. I'm fine" replied Soda. Obviously he was lying because Soda was never that quite. Soda finished up his breakfast and left for work early. He didn't even wait for Steve to come. I waited for Tori to finish up her breakfast and then we left for work.

"Remember, straight there and straight back. You two are still on probation" warned Darry. I didn't want to find out what would happen to us if we made any stops on the way home from work so I just said "ok" and left. We had to walk the whole way through the cold since Soda hurried out the door that morning.

When we approached the DX, I could see Steve in the garage working on some soc car. We ran up to the garage as fast as we could so that we could get out of the cold.

"Hey Steve" I said, "where's Soda?"

"He's up front talkin' to some customers" replied Steve. Tori left to go help Soda upfront.

"Do you what's buggin' him this morning? He seemed real uptight. He wouldn't talk to anybody" I said.

"Your guess is a good as mine. He didn't say anything to me when he came in this morning" said Steve.

Meanwhile in the front of the store………..

Soda was behind to counter saying good-bye to a customer when Tori came in.

"Hey, Soda. I missed you this morning" said Tori.

Soda just glared at her the same way he did me that morning.

"What's the matter with you? Why do you keep giving everybody the cold shoulder, huh?" asked Tori.

At first he didn't reply, but then he took a deep breathe and said "I heard you guys talkin' last night."

"What do you mean?"

"I was at the park last night. I was looking for Pony and I figured that's where he'd be. I was comin' up from behind the tree when I heard Kelsey say that y'all was from the future."

"Is that why you won't talk to us?"

"Yeah. How come you didn't tell us?"

"We weren't ready. We weren't sure how you guys would react but that's no reason to be mad at us. We were going to tell you guys, just not right away" said Tori.

"Look, I'm sorry I reacted like that and your right, that's no reason for me to be mad at you two, but you still should have told us" said Soda.

"Your probably right, but like I said, we weren't ready."

Tori stayed upfront and talked to Soda, while I got stuck in the garage with Steve. It seemed like we had spent the whole day there by the time lunch came around.

"Where do y'all wanna go?" asked Soda.

"Let's go to the Tastee Freeze" suggested Tori.

No one objected to that so that's were we went. Steve drove and Soda, being the gentlemen that he was most of the time, let me sit in the front seat. I objected at first but then said yes. It really wasn't worth fighting over.

The Tastee Freeze was packed. It seemed like everybody in town was on there lunch break. It was starting to rain outside when we were eating. The rain was almost impossible to see through, that's how hard it was coming down. Steve, being the idiot that he always acted like, insisted on driving through it. Soda, once again offered the front seat to me. Since it was raining, I didn't bother arguing.

Every now and then the tires would slip on the wet road and we'd almost, keyword there being almost, go into a ditch.

"Steve, I'm begging you, pull over" pleaded Tori from the backseat.

"It's ok. I've driven through this type of weather before. We'll be okay" reassured Steve. I was about to protest but there was no time. Steve lost control of the wheel and the car slid right into on coming traffic. A car hit on Tori and my side. I was knocked out but when I came back around I could hear sirens screaming. The cold rain was coming down pretty hard on me. I saw two strange men standing over me, mumbling something to each other but I couldn't make it out. I tried to stay awake but a dark haze closed in and everything went dark, almost as if someone turned the lights out.


	22. All my fault

Chapter 21

When I came back around for the second time there was a bright light shining in my face. I couldn't help but think 'this is it. I'm dead. My parents are never going to know what happened to me and there going to be searching for the rest of there lives.' But then I heard a voice. At first I thought it was God welcoming me to heaven, but then I realized that the voice sounded a lot like Darry's voice. I blinked a couple of times and the hospital room came into focus.

Darry was standing in the doorway, talking to one of the doctors. Soda was asleep at my bedside, holding my hand tightly. Ponyboy was on the other side of the room, sitting next to the other bed, holding the other persons hand like Soda was holding mine. The person in the other bed looked so familiar but I couldn't quite place where I had seen them before. Then something dawned on me. The other person was Tori. The memory came rushing back to me now. I remember seeing the bright, yellow headlights coming out of the rain. I remember hearing the tires squeal when Steve lost control. Funny thing is though, I didn't remember why I was in the hospital. I didn't remember what type of injuries I had gotten in order to get in the hospital.

Pony's eyes widened when he saw that I was awake. I tried to say something but it was hard for me to talk.

"Hey, Darry, Kelsey's up" said Ponyboy. Darry stopped talking to the doctor and looked in my direction. I smiled slightly since I couldn't say anything.

"Oh thank God" said Darry rushing to my bedside, "for a minute there I thought we were gonna lose you."

"I'm Doctor James" said the doctor, "you're a very fortunate young lady. You could've died in an accident like that."

I managed to squeak out a "Tori?" but it hurt to even say that much.

"She's been awake a couple of times but no more then 10 minutes at a time" said Darry.

"I'll leave you so that you can get caught up" said Dr. James. He left the room and shut the door behind him. Darry shook Soda slightly so that he would wake up but Soda didn't budge.

"He hasn't been sleeping real good since the accident. He thinks the whole thing is somehow his fault" said Darry.

"How long?" I asked in almost a whisper.

"Shhhhhh……..you shouldn't be talking. You've been out for about a week and a half now. Your leg isn't bothering you, is it?" asked Darry. I shook my head no.

"Good. You hurt it pretty badly. Doc says you won't be able to walk real well from now on. You'll need a cane or a crutch or something. You hit your head pretty good too. There were a couple of broken ribs too, that's why your breathing so heavily. Both you and Tori got some pretty bad head injuries, that's why you were unconscious" said Darry.

I motioned slightly to Tori, hoping Darry would understand what I meant.

"Tori? She got it pretty bad too. She broke both of her legs and her arm. Her right arm will always be shorter then her left from now on. She'll be in a wheel chair for the next month or so. She tore the cornea in her left eye and she'll need surgery to fix that" said Darry.

"Soda?" I asked. I know Darry told me not to talk but I had to know.

"He only had a couple of bruise. Thank God he and Steve weren't seriously hurt. Miraculously, they both walked away from the accident without a scratch. It's gonna cost Steve a lot to get both his car and the other guys car fixed" said Darry. I was happy to hear that both Steve and Soda were going to be alright.

About an hour passed and Darry, Ponyboy, and Soda left when Johnny and Two-bit came in. They had this system where someone would come in the be with us during the day and then someone else would come in to be with us at night.

By the time Two-Bit and Johnny got there, I was talking a little more because it didn't hurt so much.

"How ya doin', kid?" asked Two-Bit, pulling up a chair next to my bed.

"Pretty good" I said. For someone who was in the hospital, I wasn't doing all that bad.

"Swiped ya a gift from the gift shop" said Two-Bit, handing me a brown teddy bear.

I said "thanks" and set it down next to me in the bed. The teddy-bear reminded me of the one I had back home. I had gotten that one when I was eight and it hasn't left my sight since. I have to take my teddy bear with me everywhere. In a way, it's almost like a security blanket. Thank God I was never one of those kids who had to drag there blanket around with them everywhere. I did have a blanket but I didn't use it that often.

"So how they treatin' ya?" asked Johnny. It was good to hear the sound of his voice again. It had been a long time since we had spoken to each other.

"Fine, I guess. I've only been awake for a couple of hours" I replied.

"Toris' woken up since. She woke up screaming. The doctors had to give her anesthetics to calm her down" said Two-Bit.

"What caused it?" I asked.

"Doctors diagnosed her with something called sleep terror disorder. It's this thing where you have these terrible nightmares but you can't remember them in the morning. It's like the same thing that Pony has" said Johnny. I had never heard him say so much at one time before.

"Has this been happening every night?" I asked.

"Yeah, doctors said the accident caused it. She's been asking for you whenever she wakes up. She thinks your dead or something" said Two-Bit. At first I didn't believe him, but that night I was awoken by Tori screaming at the top of her lungs. I tried to help but I couldn't move my right leg all that much. I guess that was the leg that I had hurt in the wreck.

Dr. James and a couple of nurses came running in with the anesthetics. It was hard for me to watch the doctor inject the medicine into her arm. It was hard for me to just sit there and watch my best friend suffer. It hurt to know that I couldn't help her right then and there. After about two minutes, she started to calm down and returned to the peaceful state she was in the last time I saw her.

Two-Bit must have sensed my uneasiness because he said "don't worry, she'll be alright." I sat back and watched as the doctors checked all the machines to make sure none of them had come unhooked during the episode. Then Dr. James made his way over to me and checked all of my machines.

Then he said in a very monotone way "we are going to put her on a special antibiotic so that she won't have these nightmares anymore." I guess that was suppose to ease my pain in some way but that only made it worst. The doctors left, leaving me, Two-Bit, Johnny, Tori, and the eeriness of the hospital at night. I sat there quietly, waiting for sleep to come back to me, while I watched my best friend sleep. It was a little weird I know, but I couldn't help. I had this terrible feeling that there was going to be more then one episode that night. And I was right, I woke up to the sound of more screaming at about 7 in the morning. Like they had done just hours before, the nurses and Dr. James came running in with the anesthetic.

At around 9, Dallas came in to take over for Johnny and Two-Bit.

"Your lookin' a lot better then the last time I saw ya, kid" said Dallas, taking Two-Bit's seat in the corner.

"When was that?" I asked.

"At the scene of the accident. You looked terrible. You had all theses cuts and bruises all over your stomach and something was wrong with your leg" said Dal, "man for a second there, I thought you two was gonna die."

"Nope. Your not getting rid of us that easily" I said.

"I don't think the kid could've taken it" said Dallas.

"What kid?"

"Ponyboy. He hasn't been taking this whole thing all that well. Boy, that kids real sensitive" said Dal.

"Unlike you who could care less."

Dallas just glared at me and said "you just better watch your mouth."

"You gonna hurt me, Dal? Didn't your parents ever teach ya not to hurt crippled people?" That term sounded so odd to me. It had just dawned on me now that I was considered a crippled person.

"My dads' been in jail most of my life and my mom don't give a damn about me, so no, I guess they didn't" said Dal. I never knew his dad was in jail. I guess it's like the old saying goes, like father, like son.

"I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?" I asked.

"I guess not" said Dal "so how's Tori been doin'?"

"I don't know. She hasn't woken up since last night" I said.

"Screaming?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I was there the first time she did that." Just then I could hear someone moving in the other bed. Tori was finally waking up without screaming this time.

"Hey, your awake" said Tori in a groggy voice.

"Yeah, I've been awake for a little while. You doin' ok?" I asked.

"Fine except for the pain in my arm, legs, eye, and head. Oh, don't forget the nightmares" said Tori. I couldn't help but laugh at that comment. At that moment the Dr. James came in.

"Morning ladies, Dallas" said Dr. James.

"Mornin'" I said.

"How are we feeling today?"

"Fine I guess" I said.

"Everything hurts" replied Tori.

"Well, I'm going to give you some very strong pain killers, that should help. Kelsey, I don't want you to try to walk today, your still a little too week for that" said Dr. James.

"Darry says I'm gonna need a cane or a crutch or something from now on" I said.

"That's right, it's right over there in the corner. We brought it in case you were going to wake up earlier" said Dr. James, pointing to the stick in the corner of the room. It was one of those canes that all the old people have, you know, the metal ones that match the walker they probably have.

"You might have to use a walker too, just for a little while" said the doctor. Let's just make matters worse, shall we? Dr. James gave Tori her medicine and left.

"Man, I feel bad for you, kid. Having to walk around with that ugly thing" said Dal.

"Thanks, Dal. Thanks a lot" I said, crossing my arms.

"No problem, girly" said Dallas, grinning from ear to ear. Dallas had one of one-of-a kind grins. I watched TV most of the day and Dallas slept. Around 6 or so, Steve and Soda came by to take Dallas' place.

"See ya Dal" I said, waving good-bye.

"Later, kid" said Dallas leaving the room. Soda took a seat in one of the chairs that was in the room.

"You feelin' any better today?" asked Soda.

"God, if I had a quarter every time someone asked me that today. Yes, I'm feelin' better, a little crabby, but better" I said.

"Oh, well, that's good to hear. You'll be back to work in no time. Sure, you won't be able to work as fast but you'll be back. You hungry?" asked Soda.

"Yeah. This hospital food is making me sick. You think you could do me a favor?"

"What's that?"

"Could you go down to the Tastee Freeze and get me a milkshake?" I gave him my puppy dog face so that he couldn't say no. No man is strong enough to resist the puppy dog face.

"Aw, not the puppy dog pout. Fine, fine, I'll go get you a milkshake even though I just got here. You wanna stay with 'em?" asked Soda towards Steve.

Steve just nodded and Soda left to get my milkshake. I got very silent in the room after Soda left. Steve was acting funny. He had this funny expression. It looked like he was thinking about something but I couldn't tell.

"Are you ok?" I asked after a while.

"Yes……………..no……………….I dunno" said Steve.

"What's bothering you?" asked Tori. I had almost forgotten she was still in the room, she was so quiet.

"This whole thing is my fault" blurted out Steve. He looked as if he were about to cry.

"Don't be stupid, you couldn't of know this was gonna happen" I said.

"Yeah, it ain't your fault. It was an accident" added Tori.

"Ya know, after first they thought neither one of ya was ever gonna walk again. I blame myself for you having to walk around with a cane the rest of your life and you having to be in a wheel chair and having to have surgery" said Steve. His eyes started getting watery and red.

"Steve, this isn't your fault" said Tori.

"If I hadn't insisted on driving in the rain, this would of never of happened" said Steve through tears. That was the first time I had ever seen Steve Randle cry. I didn't even know he could cry.

"Could we please not play the 'if' game. There are a couple of things that could have prevented this. If Soda hadn't given up the front seat, if we hadn't decided to go the Tastee Freeze, if we hadn't decided to go to work that day. See what I mean? There are a thousand things that we could have done to prevent this, but how could you know it was coming? You couldn't of. My mom always taught me that everything happens for a reason, that its all part of some bigger plan that God has for my life. Apparently, this was part of His plan for me, and Tori, and everybody else that was involved. Speaking of which, what happened to the people in the other car?" I asked.

"He's ok, a little shaken up but ok" said Steve, crocodile tears still streaming down his face, "you guys aren't mad at me, are you?"

I took a second to think about that question. I hadn't even occurred to me to be mad at Steve. I always thought the whole thing wasn't his fault. I know it may seem like it was but it was an accident.

"I could never be mad at you" I said.

"Me neither. Like I said, this isn't your fault. My arm and legs will heal and my eye will be fixed. It's not permanent damage" said Tori.

"But your nightmares" said Steve.

"I'll take medicine. I'll go to a doctor or something" said Tori. It seemed like that no matter what we said, it didn't seem to help much. Without saying anything, Steve ran out of the room. I felt bad for him. I knew that Tori and I weren't the only ones who tried to tell him this wasn't his fault, but somehow he seemed to think that it was.

Soda came back with my milkshake only minutes after Steve left.

"Where's Steve?" asked Soda.

"He left. He couldn't take it" said Tori.

"Couldn't take what?"

"He started rambling on about who it was his fault that we are in the hospital and stuff like that" I said.

"Oh, he's been doing that for a while now. We've all tried to tell him but he won't listen" said Soda. What did I tell you?

I finished up my milkshake and fell back asleep. Soda stayed with us through the night.


	23. Kelsey!

Chapter 22

After a couple of days, I was able to start walking. Darry helped me a lot cause I kept on falling but after awhile I got the hang of it. Tori was jealous that I could get up and move around whenever I wanted. Because both of her legs were broken, she needed help getting from her bed to the wheelchair.

About two more days later we were able to go home but not without a few instructions first.

"Give Tori two of these before she goes to bed every night" instructed the doctor to whomever may have been listening. Someone was to make sure that she took two pills every night or else she was going to have terrible nightmares and guess who would have to listen to her scream if she didn't take them.

"As for Kelsey, if her knee starts hurting, give her two of these" said the doctor, holding up an orange tube. They were extra strength pain killers. After the doctor was done giving out his instructions, we left. It was only Tori, Darry, Soda, and I. The rest of the gang was waiting for us back at the house. Darry helped Tori into the car first and then me. It would take some getting use to getting into a car with a cane or crutch but I prefer the cane.

"I bet y'all are happy to be goin' home" said Darry from the drivers seat.

"You have no idea. If I had to stay in that hospital room one more day I swear I think I might of killed myself" said Tori. She really would have to if we stayed longer. I was too busy messing with the straps on my knee brace to pay any attention.

"Kelsey, quit messing with those straps. Your gonna break 'em. Didn't you hear the doctor say they can break easily?" warned Darry.

"I know but there cutting off the circulation" I said.

"They're suppose to be tight. Just leave 'em alone" said Darry. And with that, I left them alone but only because I didn't feel like messing with them anymore.

When we pulled up to the house, I could see that the whole gang was waiting us in the living room. With a little help, I made it out of the car and up to the house. When I opened the door, I noticed that the house looked neater then what it normally did. The boys had cleaned up for us. And there was a strange yet familiar smell in the house. It smelt a lot like freshly baked chocolate cake.

"You guys cleaned up for us" said Tori as Soda pushed her through the door.

"Well since Darry and Soda spent most of there time at the hospital and at work, they didn't really have any time to clean the house so we thought we'd do it for them as kind of a nice surprise" said Pony. I had a feeling that Pony and Johnny did most of the cleaning since Dallas and Two-bit never cleaned. But then I noticed that something wasn't right with this picture. Dallas was laying down on the couch. Two-Bit was sitting right in front of the TV watching Mickey Mouse, blocking everyone's view of course. Ponyboy was standing right next to me. Johnny was sitting in Darry's chair. Who was missing?

"Where's Steve?" asked Tori.

"He said he'd be a little while" said Pony. I think I knew the real reason why Steve wasn't there. Maybe he still felt guilty about what happened.

We were about half way through the cake when Steve walked in.

"Steve!" I called from the kitchen table. I got up and walked over towards him, Tori followed except she didn't walk, she rolled. We just stood there for a minute in silence until, suddenly, Steve scooped me off my feat and spun me around in circles. He would of done the same to Tori had she not been in a wheelchair. Instead, he just gave her a big hug and didn't let go for about five minutes.

"Stay right here. I go something for both of you" said Steve. Like we could really go anywhere. Steve went back out to his truck and came back with two red roses.

"Awww, that's so sweet" I said, giving Steve another hug.

"Thanks Steve. Who knew you could be so sentimental" said Tori, giving Steve a hug, "come on, your just in time for cake. You better hurry before Two-bit eats the whole thing." So Steve joined us for cake and dinner. Things went back to the way they were before. It was almost like we were actually brothers and sisters. Any onlooker might of easily mistaken us for a blood related family that's how close we were. We were actually just like a family. We were there for each other when one of us needed help. The gang had become the big brothers that I never had except for Ponyboy, he was the little brother I wanted my real brother to be like.

I didn't sleep well that night. I think it was from all the chocolate cake.

I was almost asleep when Tori started moaning. God just didn't want me to get any sleep that night. At first, it was ok but then she got louder and then she started yelling.

"Kelsey!" she screamed.

"Tori, I'm right here" I said, trying to calm her down.

"Kelsey! No! Don't go!"

"Tori, I'm not going anywhere" I said. I could see big tears starting to stream down her face. At that point, Darry came running in.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't know, she just started screaming things" I replied, trying my best to keep my tone steady and calm.

"Did she remember to take her medicine?"

"Apparently not. Do you think it would work now?"

"I dunno but it's worth a shot" said Darry. Darry left to get her pills and a glass of water from the kitchen. I wished he hurried up because she was screaming right in my ear.

Darry came running back in with the pills and water. I tried to sit her up but she resisted.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed. I tried to talk to her but then I realized something. She was doing this all in her sleep. I tried again to sit her up and this time it worked. As soon as Darry got her to take the medicine, she started crying.

"She can't die" she started whispering, holding onto me and sobbing at the same time. I had never seen her like this before, not even when her parents got divorced. In a couple of minutes or so she began to calm down and snapped out of her nightmare. Unfortunately, though, she was starting to wake up.

"Kelsey?" she asked, "what are you doing?" I hadn't realized that I was holding onto her too. I pulled my arms back and said "nothing." Then Tori noticed that Darry was in the room and she finally began to piece together what had happened.

"Oh, no. I forgot to take my medicine. I'm so sorry you guys, I didn't mean to wake you" apologized Tori.

"It's ok. It's not your fault. You two get some sleep now, ya hear? I'll see you in the morning" said Darry.

"Alright, night Dar" I said, laying back down.

"Night Darry" said Tori, "Kelsey?"

"What?"

"What happened?"

"You had a nightmare."

"No, I mean, why were you holding onto me like that when I woke up?"

"Because you were doing the same to me. You were crying and everything."

"I was?" I just nodded my head yes. It got very quite in the room before either one of us spoke again.

"What's wrong with me?" asked Tori aloud. I paused for a moment before I answered. How do you answer a question like that? Do you tell them that they have a sleeping disorder that might not go away? Or do you just say 'nothing's wrong with you. Your fine.' ? I decided that maybe the second choice was the best.

"Nothing's wrong. You just have bad nightmares is all. Everybody has bad nightmares" I said. I thought maybe that would make her feel better.

"Not like mine. They don't wake up screaming every time" said Tori.

"You know who you should really talk to about your dreams?" I asked.

"Who?"

"Ponyboy. He has the same thing."

"Good idea. Maybe I should talk to him" said Tori. We left the conversation at that. I was exhausted and I needed to go to sleep. The medicine I take for my knee makes me drowsy sometimes. I finally fell asleep around two in the morning but got up at 6. Once again, I was the first one up so I had to make breakfast. When I was making breakfast I heard the front door open and then slam shut. Dallas came stumbling into the kitchen a bit hung over.

"Rough night last night?" I asked.

Dallas just shook his head yes.

"Ya got any Tylenol?" asked Dallas. Without saying anything I handed him the bottle out of the medicine cabinet. He took about four of the pills.

"That bad?" I asked.

"You have no idea" said Dallas, holding his head in his hands.

I set the cake down on the table in front of Dallas. Dallas just took one look at the cake and said "I think I'm gonna be sick." He wasted no time in getting to the bathroom. What a bad way to start off the day.

Ponyboy came stumbling out of his room just as Dallas ran into the bathroom.

"Dal hung over this morning?" asked Ponyboy.

"Looks that way" I said. Pretty soon the rest of the gang was here and we all ate breakfast together.


	24. Pony's got his beer goggles on

Chapter 23

Nothing much really happened over the past couple of weeks. Tori got all of her cast off which was good because I think she was about to go crazy in that wheelchair. And she had surgery to fix her eye. The doctors said that she would have a little trouble seeing at first but it would get better over time. As for me, I went in for my one month check up. Everything appeared to be ok.

Tori, Soda, and I were sitting in the garage at the DX when Dallas stopped by.

"Hey, Dal" said Soda as Dallas approached the garage.

"To what do we owe this honor?" I asked. Dallas almost never came by the gas station.

"Can I not stop by every now and then?" asked Dallas.

"No, you can. What are you doing here?" asked Tori.

"I wanted to know if y'all wanted to come to a party tonight" said Dal.

"Where's it at?" asked Soda.

"The Shepard place" replied Dallas. I got chills when I heard him mention the name 'Shepard.' It had been weeks since I had last seen Tim and Curly.

"It's at 7 but you can come whenever you want" continued Dal.

"I dunno, Dal. Darry told us to stay away from Tim and Curly" said Tori.

"Who said you had to be anywhere's near Tim or Curly? You can still go and not see them" said Dal. Dallas did have a point but I still don't think Darry would let us go. But for some reason, I really wanted to go. Since the accident we hadn't been out of the house much.

"No, your not going. You heard Darry" said Soda.

"Please Soda" I pleaded.

"We haven't been out of the house in a long, long time" added Tori.

"Come on, Soda, let 'em go" said Dallas. With a couple more 'please Soda's and puppy dog faces, Soda finally said yes but on one condition. We had to stay with either him or Dallas the whole time and we were to stay far away from both Tim and Curly. The boss was being extremely nice to us that day and let us off work early. Since Darry had the truck that day, we had to walk home.

"Thanks Soda for letting us go to the party" said Tori.

"Yeah, just be sure to stay outa trouble. Darry'll ground my ass if something' happens to y'all while I'm responsible" said Soda. Just then, I heard foot steps coming up behind us. I remember the last time I was with Soda and we heard foot steps. I hope there wasn't going to be a re-play of that. I turned around to see who it was and came face to face with Ponyboy and Johnny. I sighed a sigh of relief.

"Scare ya?" asked Ponyboy.

"No" I said. Ponyboy and Johnny caught up with us.

"What's goin' on?" asked Soda.

"Nothin' much. I heard y'all was goin' to a party at Tim's house" said Johnny.

"How'd you know?" I asked.

"Dallas told us after school. He wanted to know if we could come" said Ponyboy.

"You can go" said Soda.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I guess if it's ok for Kelsey and Tori to go then it's ok for you to come too" said Soda.

"How we gonna get outa the house? Darry would never let us go to a party over there" said Ponyboy.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt us" said Tori. That was right. If Darry didn't find out about us going to the party, then we wouldn't get in trouble. I was kinda hoping he wouldn't be like my mom when it came to matters like these. No matter what I was trying to hide, my mom always knew about it somehow. I don't know how but she did. It's like she had a sixth sense or something. I think almost all moms had a sixth sense about those things.

When we were walking home we came up with an excuse to tell Darry when we left to go to the party. And surprisingly it worked.

"Hey Dar?" asked Soda when we were all sitting in the living room.

"What?" replied Darry from behind his paper.

"Is it alright if Tori, Kelsey, Pony, Johnny, and I go to the Nightly Double tonight?" asked Soda. I hadn't even thought about asking to go to the Nightly Double. You could say you were going there and then go all over town.

Darry thought about it for a moment before saying "yeah, I guess it's ok since it's not a school night. But be sure to be home sometime between midnight and 1 ok?"

"OK" said Soda and with that he hopped up from the couch, grabbed his jacket and shoes, and ran out the door. Ponyboy, Johnny, and Tori followed all yelling bye to Darry as they flew out the door. I took a little longer to get ready. I felt bad about leaving Darry at the house all by himself but then again I don't think he would have had much fun at the party since it was mostly junior high and high school kids.

Just as I was about to leave I stopped , looked at Darry, and said "you gonna be alright here by yourself ? I feel bad about leavin' you here alone."

"I'll be ok. Don't you worry 'bout me. You guys go off and have fun ,ok?" said Darry. I said ok and left. I stopped on the porch steps and looked back through the window at Darry. He didn't look too happy about being home all by himself and missing out on all the fun. To this day I still feel guilty about leaving him alone.

"Kelsey come on!" yelled Soda from the road.

"I'm coming!" I yelled back. I took one last look at Darry and then left to join the others.

"That was easier then I thought" said Johnny.

"Yeah, I thought for sure he knew we were up to something" said Soda. I was quiet most of the way there, occasionally adding a few comments here and there. We arrived at Tim's house about 20 min. later. I could hear lots of cheesy country music coming from inside. We didn't even bother knocking on the door like we did at Buck's place. There were tons of people there. Some of them I knew from school and some of them were completely new to me. I saw Tim from a distance in one of the corners of the living room and he was about to make his way over to me but Dallas had spotted him and distracted him. I hadn't even noticed that Dallas was there until then. By the end of the first hour Ponyboy and Johnny had gotten lost in the crowd leaving Tori, Soda, and I. I sat back and watched as Tori and Soda danced with each other. Thanks to my knee, I wouldn't be able to dance with him, well maybe during a slow song I would but not during this song that was playing.

"Havin' fun?" asked Dallas. Surprisingly he wasn't drunk, least not yet.

"Yeah" I said, keeping my eyes on Soda and Tori.

Dallas followed my gaze and asked "you wanna dance?"  
"No, that's ok."

"I dunno. It's looks like you wanna dance" said Dal.

"No, it's ok, really."

"Oh, you wanna dance with him, don't you?"

I slowly nodded my head yes.

"Well, I may not be Soda but I'm not that bad of a dancer" said Dallas. I thought about his offer for a moment. Dallas was hardly ever this nice to me and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to dance with him so I changed my mind and said "I'll dance with you."

Dallas wasn't that bad of a dancer. Sure he was no Johnny Castle but he was close. And just as luck would have it, a slow song came on. The night couldn't of been better. Once Tori saw who I was dancing with, she smiled and gave me a thumbs up behind Soda's back. I smiled back at her, pointed to Soda, and gave her a thumbs up.

"What are you doing behind my back?" asked Dallas.

"Nothing" I said, smiling an innocent smile. Dallas just shrugged.

Dallas and I danced for what seemed like hours until finally we got tired and decided to sit a couple of songs out. Dallas went to go get something to drink, leaving me on the couch amongst strangers, that is until Tori and Soda came off of the dance floor.

"I saw you dancing with Dallas out there" said Soda.

"And your point being?" I asked.

"I was just sayin' I saw you two out there. I never knew you or Dallas could dance like that" said Soda.

"There's a couple of things you don't know about me, Soda" I said.

"Where's Ponyboy and Johnny?" asked Tori.

"I dunno. You wanna go find 'em?" I asked.

"Yeah, come with me" said Tori, pulling me up off the couch. We left Soda sitting by himself on the couch. That was the second time I had left someone alone that night.

Tori and I searched high and low for Ponyboy and Johnny, asking everyone if they'd seen him. Some guy said that he had seen both of them upstairs so we went upstairs. When we got to the top of the steps, there were about 6 different doors we could chose from. I didn't want to know what was going on behind most of those doors. Luckily for us, the first door we tried was the right one. There were a bunch of drunk or stoned (they were either or) people in there.

"Kelsey! Tori!" came a familiar voice from the corner of the room. I had to walk over a bunch of stoners to get to the corner. I found Johnny amongst a bunch of strangers but Pony was no where's to be found. There was this kid who looked exactly like Ponyboy except he had blonde hair and was making out with some skanky chick. Pony had dark hair, not blonde hair. I took a look around the room but then I realized something. The blonde haired kid was Pony! Ponyboy took a break from his make out session and said "Kelsey, Tori, what's happenin'?" His voice was slurred a little. He got up and tried to walk towards us but fell down and landed at our feet.

"Fancy seein' ya here" said Ponyboy, propping himself up a little. When he looked up at us, he and I made eye contacted. His eyes had this glassy look to them. I took another look at the chick he was making out with and said to Tori, "looks like Ponyboy here has his beer goggles on. What the hell happened to your hair, kid?"

"Some guy just wanted to bleach it so I said sure" said Ponyboy

Tori and I picked Ponyboy up and put his arms around our shoulders.

"Where we goin'?" asked Pony.

"Where takin' you home little buddy" said Tori. Johnny got up off the floor and followed us down out of the room. Johnny took over for me when we made it to the stairs. There was no way I could make it down with Ponyboy.

We found Soda were we had left him.

"Look what we found upstairs" I said.

"Oh my God. Darry is gonna kill me" said Soda, "we gotta get him home.''

"Where'd you find the kid?" asked Dallas as he came up from behind us.

"Upstairs and drunk" I said.

"So the kid got drunk" said Dallas, looking Ponyboy in the eye, "it's 'bout time, kid. What happened to your head?"

Ponyboy shook lose of Tori and Johnny's grip and said "hey there, Dal. Long time no see, buddy." Ponyboy put his arm around Dallas and said "Dallas W…….W…….W."

"Winston?" suggested Dal.

"Winston! That's it! My best buddy, Dally Winston!" yelled Ponyboy. Dallas just pushed Pony off him and Pony tumbled backwards slightly. Luckily though, Tori was there to catch him. Tori helped Ponyboy out the door and the rest of us followed. Pony got lose from Tori and ran right out into the middle of the street. He almost got hit by a car.

"Hey, watch it! I'm walking here!" yelled Pony, giving the guy the finger, "Soda! Tori! Come on out and play with me! We can play dodge the……….uh, the………………uh…………….cars!" Tori and Soda ran out to the middle of the street but not to play dodge the cars. They grabbed Pony by both arms and pulled him over to the sidewalk.

"Why did ya do that? I was havin' fun" said Pony.

"You coulda gotten killed. You're my baby brother and I don't need ya diein' on me" said Soda.

"Why do you hafta be such a fun sucker, Pepsi-Cola?" asked Ponyboy. Soda got real quite. That was his dad's nickname for him and everybody knew not to call him by that name.

"Don't you ever call me that, you understand!" snapped Soda. Ponyboy sort of stumbled back a little in shock.

"What'd I do?" asked Pony, his speech slurred.

"You called him Pepsi-Cola, dumbass" I said, walking alongside him.

Ponyboy put his arm around me, got real close, and said in what was suppose to be a whisper, "you know, Kelsey, that Dallas what's-his-name is lookin' pretty good tonight." Was he gay or something?

"Beer goggles is a bit of an understatement" said Tori. Apparently she had heard what Ponyboy said. Dallas tackled Ponyboy and yelled "I'll kill you, man!" I pulled Dallas off of him and just in time too because Ponyboy threw up all over the side walk. Dallas and I picked Ponyboy up and walked him the rest of the way home. We were lucky he didn't throw up all over our shoes.

"I've got a plan" said Johnny just as we were about to get up to the house.

"How about Soda and Kelsey go in and stall while Tori, Dallas, and I sneak Pony in through the bathroom window."

"What are we gonna say?" I asked.

"Just say that Ponyboy decided to spend the night at Two-Bit's house and the rest of us are at the park and will be there in a minute" suggested Johnny. It sounded good to me, so I went in and helped Soda stall while the others tried to get Ponyboy through the bathroom window.

"You two are home early. Where's everybody else?" asked Darry. I didn't realize how early we were. It was only 10:30 and we had left the Curtis house at 8:00.

"Ummm…….they decided to go see another movie at the movie house and Ponyboy wanted to go spend the night at Two-bit's house tonight" said Soda. Whatever he just said wasn't part of the plan but I decided to go along with it.

"Oh, well, let me call his mother and ask if it's ok" said Darry, getting out of his chair.

"No, you can't. She's workin' late tonight and won't be home for another couple of hours" I said. Darry just looked at me and then said "ok." Just then, we heard a loud thud coming from the bathroom. That must have been Ponyboy landing in the tube.

"You know Darry, why don't you go out for some fresh air. Take a walk around the park a couple of times. It's a beautiful nigh out tonight" suggested Soda.

Darry just looked at him strangely but decided a walk might do him so good so he took Soda's advice. As soon as Darry was out the door, Soda and I ran to the bathroom only to find that I was right about Pony falling in the bathtub.

Johnny, Tori, and Dallas followed once we got Pony up.

"Wait" said Pony, "I think I'm gonna be sick." Pony threw up in the toilet. I could tell this was going to be a long night. Tori and I decided to give the guys a little break and said that we could watch Pony for a little while. The guys left while I moved closer to Pony on the floor.

"Hey Dallas" I said just as he was leaving.

"Yes?"

"Make sure Two-bit doesn't show up. Darry thinks Pony's over there spending the night" I said. Dallas just nodded and left the room. Tori opened up the bathroom window so that Ponyboy could sober up as much as possible before Darry got home.

"Darry's gonna kill me when he sees me like this" said Ponyboy. His words were still a bit slurred but not as much as they were before.

"You'll be fine" said Tori, who was sitting on top of the sink.

"We wouldn't let him kill ya" I added. Pony just looked at me strange. He looked different to me that night. Whether it had to do with the fact that he was drunk I couldn't tell you. About an hour later, Darry came home. The guys distracted him while we got Ponyboy to his room. That was kinda hard since he was being so loud.

We laid Ponyboy down on his bed and stayed with him till he fell asleep, spraying him with everything imaginable to cover up the alcohol smell. Plus, we gave him about ten pieces of gum to lose to bad breathe. Surprisingly this went over a lot better then what I thought it was. The only part that I was really worried about was the morning after.


	25. The morning after

Chapter 24

I woke up early the next morning but I wasn't the first one up so I didn't have to make breakfast. Ponyboy was in the kitchen already making the eggs. Ponyboy was wearing my DX hat that I wear to work every day. I guess it was to cover up that blonde hair.

"Morning" I said cheerfully.

"What the hell happened last night? Who did this to my hair?" asked Ponyboy, sort of angry.

"Well, if I remember correctly, when we found you and Johnny, you were making out with some chick, you said that Dallas was lookin' good and he was your best friend, you ran out in the middle of street and almost got hit by a car, actually you forgot what to call a car, you called Soda by your dad's nickname for him, and you threw up on the side walk. Oh, and I called you a dumbass. Plus we had to sneak you in threw the bathroom window so Darry wouldn't find out" I said.

"Shit. I'm dead" said Ponyboy.

"Not yet, he still doesn't know" I said.

"He'll find out sooner or later. What am I gonna say when he sees my hair and that I've got a hangover?" asked Pony.

"Just hang around with us all day. Come to work with Tori and I" I suggested. Just then Darry came into the kitchen and we immediately changed the subject.

"So, Pony, what did you think of the movie last night?" I asked.

"It was just ok. It could have been better" replied Pony honestly.

"Did y'all have fun last night?" asked Darry, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Yeah. Lots of fun. Listen, Dar, I gotta go to work early this morning. I was thinkin' maybe Ponyboy could come with me since he'd be here all by himself if he stayed here" I said.

"I don't see why not. I've gotta work all day and I won't be home till late tonight" said Darry. With that, Pony and I finished up our breakfast pretty fast and made our way to the DX. On the way there Pony started feeling sick.

"Kelsey, I don't feel so good" said Ponyboy, stopping dead in his tracks.

"Is probably just the hangover. Take really deep breathes it'll go away in a minute" I said. Ponyboy kept walking and even though I don't think the nausea went away completely I think it helped.

"This hangover sucks" said Pony between breathes.

"That's what you get for drinkin', kid" I said.

"Why are you yelling?" asked Pony.

"I'm not yelling."

"Yes you are. Stop it. Man, it's bright out here. It's giving me a headache" said Pony, holding his head.

"It's the hangover. Here, have my sunglasses" I said, tossing the glasses at him. He looked funny with my sunglasses on. Not that they were girly glasses or anything it was just a different look for him because he never wore them.

Ponyboy and I walked the rest of the way in silence. As soon as we got there, I got straight to work and left Pony in the garage. I was filling up a customers car when I could see the rest of the gang coming down the road in Steve's red pickup. Seeing that car again made me shudder. Soda and Tori waved at me frantically when they noticed me standing at the pumps. One thing I really liked about Soda was the fact that he was always happy to see me. He was always happy to see everybody unless you were a Soc, which in that case, I think he might of wanted to kill you. I didn't really understand why Greasers wanted to kill Socs if they didn't do anything or vise versa. It just didn't make any sense to me. Maybe the Greasers had some sort of instinct to kill them? Maybe Socs had an instinct to kill greasers? I don't think I'll ever know.

"Would you watch it? Your dripping gas everywhere" said the customer. I had gotten so caught up in what I was thinking about, I wasn't paying any attention to the gas. I said sorry, put the pump up, and the customer paid me.

"You outa be careful" said Soda.

"I know, I just got a little distracted" I said, walking with Soda to the gas station.

"How's Ponyboy doin' this morning?" asked Soda.

"Why don't you ask him yourself? He's right over there" I said, pointing to Ponyboy who was laying down on the counter top.  
"How ya doin' Pony?" asked Soda.

"I'm sick" said Pony.

"Your hungover. You was quite a site to see last night, wasn't he Tori?" asked Soda.

"Yep, it was kinda funny too. You said that you thought Dallas was kinda cute" said Tori.

"Just rub it in. What'd he do?"

"He tackled you and you threw up all over the concrete" I replied. About two hours later the rest of the gang went out for lunch. Tori and I had to stay behind and help Steve with one of the cars that had to be done by the end of the day. I guess he had gotten so far behind on the car that he absolutely had to work during lunch hour.

"How come your weren't at the party last night, Steve?" I asked.

"I had to watch Kristy" replied Steve from under the hood of the car.

"How's she doing?" I asked.

"Not so good."

"What happened?"

Steve thought for a little while before answering. Then he said "I can't tell you."

"Was it your dad?" asked Tori.

"How did you know?" questioned Steve.

I said "your sister told us about him. She told us that he hits her and you and does all this other bad stuff."

"Did she tell you about our sister?" asked Steve.

I tried hard to remember I couldn't recall anything being said about a sister.

"No" said Tori.

"I had a twin sister named Stephanie" said Steve.

"You wanna tell us what happened?" I asked.

STEVE'S STORY FROM HIS POV:

I remember it like it was yesterday. We were 14 going on 15. She went to this party and ended up with this guy. A couple of weeks later she found out she was pregnant. My mom sent her to live with my aunt in Alabama for 9 months until she had the baby. When the 9 months was over and she had the baby she brought the baby back here to Tulsa. She had no idea what to do with it. If I'm not mistaken, it was a baby girl and she named her Cherie. My father never knew about this whole thing until she had come back with the kid. I remember that night so clearly. I was sitting in the living room, rocking the baby's cradle, and Stephanie was in the kitchen making dinner for the baby. My dad came home early that night from the bar, which is unusual because he usually came home around two in the morning. He was really drunk that night. As soon as he came home he screamed at me "what the hell is that!" At first he thought it was my kid, but my sister stepped in before he could hurt me. My dad dragged her into the kitchen and started beating her with random objects. Her screaming was so loud it killed me cause I knew that I couldn't do anything or else I would get it too. Then I saw him bring out the frying pan and he hit her hard on the head twice. There was no more screaming after that, just silence except for the baby crying. I knew what had happened but I didn't want to except it.

My dad started making his way towards the baby with this evil look in his eye. He was going to kill her. He said "there's only one way to get rid of that mistake." I said "like hell there is." I picked up the baby and wrapped her in her pink blanket that she got from the hospital. Then I went to Kristy's room, got her up, and we ran out the door with the baby in my arms. I remember hearing once that the hospitals and police stations took in babies. I don't like the police so I took her to the hospital. I stood outside the hospital in the freezing cold for a long time. I couldn't help but wonder if I was doing the right thing. I looked down at the baby and I saw my sister and I couldn't help but cry. I must've been out there for an hour before finally deciding to giver her up but not without a good-bye. I said something like this: "I know your not going to remember me kid but I'm your uncle Steve. Your mom was my sister. Your mom was a pretty good person and she would've made an awesome mom had someone given her the chance. She loved you a whole lot. She even died for you. Your gonna be just fine, I know you are. You'll get sent to a nice, rich family that lives far away from here and they'll give you everything you would ever want and need. They'll love you like your grandparents never would. I'll make sure they're a good family" by this point I was crying, "I love you a lot even though your not my kid." I gave her a kiss and then took her and my sister into the hospital. I asked the receptionist where the nursery was and she pointed me in the right direction.

I found the nursery on the second floor and found the nurse I was suppose to give her to. I said "I'd like to drop this little girl off for safe keeping." I slowly handed the baby over to the nurse.

The nurse looked at the baby then looked at me and said "God bless you. It takes a lot of courage to do what your doing." The nurse put the baby in one of those clear carts and gave me some papers to fill out. They were just basic info papers like what was the baby's name, her birthday, stuff like that. I gave the papers back to the nurse and she said "she's in the room where they keep all the newborns if you would like to see her one last time."

I took one finale look at Cherie through that big glass window and knew that she was going to be ok. I blew her a kiss and started my long walk home. Well, actually, my long walk to the Curtis house. We had a small funeral service for Stephanie and surprise, surprise, my dad wasn't there.

BACK TO KELSEY'S POV

The garage was deadly silent except for Steve's crying. No wonder he was always mad all the time.

"Do you know what happened to Cherie?" asked Tori.

"Last I heard she was being adopted by some by the last name of Stacey in New Jersey. That was three years ago when she was just a baby" said Steve.

"What about the dad? What happened to him?" I asked.

"He's still around. When he found out, he didn't do anything to help Stephanie. I got so mad at him I gave him a broken nose. The last time he spoke was two years ago when I told him I had given the baby up for adoption. All he said was 'that's cool'" said Steve.

"That's it? He didn't care about what happened to her or anything?" asked Tori.

"No. He's a druggie so he was probably stoned when I told him" said Steve.

"I'm sorry. I had no idea" I said. In situations like these, I automatically feel the need to apologize even though none of it was my fault.

"It's ok. It happened a long time ago" said Steve. At that moment, I could hear a car horn blasting from outside and I knew the gang was back. We finished up the day at the garage and then everybody came back to our house (whoa, how did the Curtis house become our house?) It was around seven thirty and everybody was hanging out in either the living room or the kitchen. Then, Soda and Steve came up with the idea that everyone go to the movies. I figured it was going the be the same as last time, everyone else go and have fun and Darry stay home alone.

I was about to leave with Soda and Two-Bit and the rest of the gang when I noticed Darry sitting alone in the living room. Once again I felt sorry that he had to stay home while everyone else went out and had fun. I decided that that night I would stay home with him.

"Kelsey, ya comin?" asked Pony.

"No. You guys go on without me. My knee is botherin' me so I should probably stay here" I said.

"Ok" said Pony, making his way to join everyone else, "see ya later!"

"Bye!" I called out after them.

I went back inside and shut the door quietly behind me.

"How come you didn't go with them?" asked Darry from behind his paper.

"I don't feel like goin' out tonight" I said, lying down on the couch.

"You feelin' ok?" asked Darry.

"Yeah" I said. I picked up the switchblade that Dallas left behind and began playing with it, flicking it in and out, in and out.

"Having fun?" asked Darry.

"Yeah cause switchblades are just so much fun" I said sarcastically.

"You know you could have gone out tonight with everyone else. You didn't have to stay here" said Darry.

"I know but I wanted to stay home. You wanna play a game?" I asked.

"What game?"

"I dunno. I don't even know if we have any board games" I said. That was kinda sad. I had been there for months and I didn't know if they had any board games.

"I think there's some in the hall closet if you wanna go check" said Darry.

So I got up and looked in the hall closet. There were about seven games in there, most of which I had never heard of except one. Since I didn't know which one to pick, I brought all the games out and put them on the coffee table.

I sat down on the floor and said "let's see what we got here. There's Careers, Coppit, Headache, Nile, Sorry, Scoop, and Spy Ring."

"You pick" said Darry.

I picked Sorry since that's the only one I knew how to play. I set the game up and Darry joined me on the floor. I picked the blue game pieces while he got the red. We played for what seemed like hours and, surprisingly, I actually had fun. I think Darry did too. For once, in a long time, he was smiling. We were in the middle of our 3rd game when the phone rang. I answered.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hello. Is this the Curtis residence?" asked a guy from the other end.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"This is Officer Brown at the Tulsa Police Department. We need for you to come and pick up the following kids: Sodapop Curtis, Ponyboy Curtis, Steve Randle, Keith Mathews, Johnny Cade, Dallas Winston, and Victoria Lewis" said Officer Brown.

I said "alright, we're on our way" and hung up the phone.

"Who was it?" asked Darry.

"The police. Everyone's down at the police station and they need for us to come pick them up" I said.

"What! What happened?" asked Darry.

"I don't know. He didn't tell me" I said. Without saying another word, Darry got up, got the car keys, and got in the car with me close behind. The car ride was silent. Darry was mad and I knew better then to try to talk to him when he was mad. When we got to the police station, we met officer Brown at the front desk.

"I'm Darryl Curtis. You called us earlier" said Darry.

"Yes, now, you only have to pay bail for your brothers, but if you like you can pay bail for the rest" said Officer Brown.

"How much is bail all together?" I asked.

"It's about seven hundred dollars. Separately, it only one hundred" said the officer. I took all the money I had out of my pocket. It was about 2 months worth of paychecks that I hadn't bothered to spend yet. It was only about 3 hundred which was enough to get 3 people out.

"I only have three hundred" I said to Darry. Darry took out all his money and began counting it. "4 hundred" said Darry once he was done counting it.

"What are you doing carrying around 4 hundred dollars?" I asked.

"What are you doing carrying around 3 hundred dollars?" replied Darry. We gave the money to the officer and he showed us where they were holding everybody. There were some strange people in jail. Some looked like they had been there about a hundred times before and others looked like it was there first time. And most of them looked like they wanted to hurt me. Lucky for me, I have never been to jail. Well, I have, I just wasn't arrested though.

When we got to the cell, no one could seem the make eye contact with us. Soda had his hand in front of his face, like he didn't want Darry and I to see him or something. The rest of the gang was just sitting around with there backs up against the wall. Except Tori, she was pacing back and forth, like she was trying to think of a way to get out of the mess they were in.

"Alright, you can go" said the officer, unlocking the cell. They got up and filed out of the cell one by one, looking at there feet as they walked. We were all quite until we were about half way home when Darry asked "what happened?"

Nobody answered.

"What happened?" repeated Darry.

"We got in a fight" said Tori in almost a whisper.

"All of you?" I asked. Dumb question, I know.

"Yeah. We were walking past one of the local movie houses when some Socs drove by and called us greasers. They jumped us. The cops came and broke up the fight" said Ponyboy, "the Socs got off easy as usual." For once, I was actually glad I didn't go out with the gang.

We got home and everyone just went to bed. I was surprised that Darry didn't yell at Soda, Pony, and Tori for going to jail. Maybe he was saving it all for them in the morning and he was just too tired to yell.

When I was getting ready for bed, I noticed that Tori looked like she was going to cry. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing" said Tori.

"Is it about going to jail?"

"yeah, I guess. I guess it's just shock or something. Who would of thought that , out of the two of us, I would be the first to go to jail. I thought for sure it was going to be you" said Tori, getting ready for bed as well.

"Nope, you were first" I said.

"Are you mad at me?" asked Tori.

"No, I'm not mad at you. Darry might be mad at you but I'm not. I'm actually kinda shocked to hear that you got in a fight and had to go to jail for it. You never seemed like the fighting type to me" I said.

"I only fight when I have to. The gang needed me so I had to" said Tori. What Tori was saying made it seem like what Pony told Darry was a lie.

"What really happened tonight?" I asked.

Tori got real quiet for a minute, then she said "we were just wondering around town, ya know, not really paying attention to where we were going. Before we knew it, we found ourselves in Soc territory. We were trying to find our way back when a blue Mustang pulled up along side us. There were about five or six Socs in there. I figured we could take 'em since there were 7 of us and 6 of them. The car stopped and they all stepped out one by one, like we did walking out of that jail cell. Anyways, they had us cornered within minutes. Two-Bit slipped on of his extra blades into my hand when I wasn't looking and in about two seconds, I was on the ground getting slugged left and right. I was about to pull out my blade when the cops came and got us. Like Ponyboy said, the Socs got off with just a warning while we went to jail. It's always the same. They get treated better then we do because they have more money then us. Apparently the cops thought that because they're rich kids, they're better then us when truth be told they're not. In a way, I think we're the same."

Tori was right. What some people failed to see was that greasers and Socs were the same. They had problems just like us. I think the only differences between us were the facts that they liked Beatles and we didn't. We liked Elvis and they didn't. They had money to waste and we didn't. Besides those things, I couldn't really think of any other differences aside from the clothes that we wear. Things weren't only rough for us but they were rough for them too. Hell, things were rough all over. I guess you could say that the sun sets on both sides of town.


	26. The truth comes out

Sorry it took so long for me to update. The stupid site wouldn't let me load any documents. Anyways, i'm sad to say that the story is almost over :( but don't worry, i might write another one

Chapter 25

I was quick to find out that Darry actually wasn't going to yell at Tori, Soda, and Pony. He just gave them a very stern talking to saying that if something like that ever happened again, Soda and Pony would go to a boys home. Soda and Pony cringed slightly at the phrase "boys home."

One morning Tori and I were sitting on the couch, waiting for Soda to finish getting ready for work. As usual, Steve hid Soda's shoes.

"Hide these" said Steve towards Tori and I. Tori shoved the shoes behind me and her since we were sitting side by side.

Soda came marching in asking "has anyone seen my shoes?"

I said "try the porch. I think I saw them sittin' out there." It was hard for Tori and I not to laugh. Soda fell for it and went outside to look for the shoes. Of course, they weren't there.

"There not out there" said Soda, looking high and low for the shoes.

"Why don't you go look in our room?" suggested Tori. Soda never left his shoes in our room but he looked in there anyways. "I swear if you guys are hiding them I'm gonna kill you!" yelled Soda from our room. Soda came back out and finally got smart enough to look in between us.

"It was all Steve's idea" said Tori, pointing a finger towards Steve.

"I should have known" said Soda. I noticed that Dallas hadn't bothered to pick up his blade from last night.

"Dallas, I'm takin' your switchblade" I said.

"Ok. You can keep it if ya want, I've got more" said Dallas kinda absent mindedly. Soda finished putting on his shoes and got in the car, with the rest of us following close behind, well not all of us. It is kinda hard to follow closely when you have a bad knee and you have to use a cane, or in that days case, a crutch. That day at work was pretty un eventful. It was the normal day which consisted of irritated customers. Pony and Johnny stopped by about an hour before Tori and I got off.

"What did you guys do today?" I asked.

"Nothin' really. Just went to the movies and stuff" said Johnny.

"Darry found out about the party" said Ponyboy.

"What'd he do?" asked Tori.

"I'm grounded for a month starting tomorrow. He said that I could keep my hair like this if I really wanted to."

"Ha-ha, sucks for you" I said.

"Your just lucky I didn't tell him that you three were there and tried to hide me being drunk from him. He would've grounded you for two months" said Ponyboy.

"And your not going to tell him, are you?" asked Tori.

Pony thought about it for a minute before saying "no, I guess not. I do kinda owe you guys for everything that you did" said Pony.

"Yeah ya do" said Johnny, Tori, and I at the same time. Soda came in with a big smile on his face, but then again, he always smiled. I wish I could always smile like him.

"What are you smiling about Curtis?" I asked.

"The boss said that we could get off earlier. Steve and I are goin' over to The Dingo if y'all wanna come" said Soda.

"Thanks, but no thanks Soda. I don't feel like goin' out" I said.

"Yeah same here. I'm not really in the mood to go out" said Tori. Ponyboy and Johnny said that they didn't really want to go out either. They never really said why they didn't. Ponyboy, Johnny, Tori, and I walked home together that day. We hadn't walked home together in what seemed like forever.

We where walking around the park when I noticed the blue Mustang following us.

"What are they doin' here? This is our territory" said Johnny in a low tone.

"They're probably looking for you guys to get back at you for last night" I said. We walked a little faster but that turned out to be a bad idea. The car only sped up so they could catch up.

"What should we do?" asked Tori.

"Just keep walking. Maybe they'll leave us alone for once" said Pony. We kept walking until the car pulled up in front of us, then of course we had to stop. About six Socs stepped out of the car. Let me tell you something, I was beginning to think that these run-ins were happening a little to often lately.

"Well looky what we got here" said one guy, "let's see we've got greaser, greaser, greaser, and greaser gimp." It hurt to be called a greaser but it hurt even more to be called a greaser gimp. The socs circled us slowly, eyeing each one of us coolly.

"I believe we never got to finish last night" said the same Soc.

"Why can't you just leave us alone for once?" asked Tori.

"Awww…….look guys, the greasy girl is begin' us to leave. I don't think so greasy girl" said one other soc. With that the Socs jumped on us, like a tiger would it's prey in the wilderness. I had a hard time fightin' but the crutch did come in us. I shoved the end of the crutch in some guys eye but he had me down in a second. He began hitting me everywhere he could while still managing to keep me pinned down. Suddenly, I felt a searing pain in my leg, almost as if someone had stuck a knife in me. Unfortunately, that was the last thing I remember because someone had kicked me in the head so hard that I blacked out.

When I woke up, I found myself lying on the couch in the Curtis house with the gang sitting around me. I looked over and saw Tori unconscious in Darry's chair.

"Tori?" I said weekly. The rest of the gang turned and looked at me.

"Kelsey, your awake" said Soda happily.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You, Pony, Johnny, and Tori got jumped. You feelin' ok?" asked Soda.

"My leg hurts like hell."

"You got stabbed. Those damn Socs stabbed you in the leg. Gave you a black eye and a couple of cuts too."

"What happened to Tori?" I asked.

"She got cut on her arm pretty bad" said Soda. Soda moved Tori's arm so that I could see. There was a cut that ran from her elbow to her wrist. She was going to have a scar there the rest of her life.

"She hit her head pretty hard too" continued Soda.

"What about Pony and Johnny?"

"There ok. A few cuts and bruises but they'll be ok" said Soda.

"This is the last straw" said Dallas from the floor.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, not really sure what was going on.

"I'm callin' a rumble. It's one thing to jump me or Two-Bit or someone like that but for them to jump you and Tori, that's just not right. Something needs to be done" said Dallas.

"What are you gonna do Dal? They're Socs, we can never win against them" said Soda. That was true. It was nearly impossible for us to win against Socs.

"I don't care!" snapped Dallas, "I'm callin' a rumble whether you like it or not!" With that, Dallas ran out of the house, furious. Who could blame him? It had just dawned on me that the Socs knew exactly were to hit us. They jumped the youngest of the group, the little brothers and sisters. Like Dallas said, it's one thing to for them to jump him, it's another thing for them to jump us. But if I was that important to the gang for them to call a rumble just cause of me and Tori, then I figured I should be honest with them. I should tell everyone else that we are from the future. I knew that at that moment when I was lying on the couch was the best time.

"Guys, I have something to tell you. Get Darry in here" I said. Two-Bit jumped up and got Darry from the kitchen. All eyes were on me now, and to be honest, I didn't exactly know how to start.

"Your gonna think I'm crazy for saying this but…………………. Tori and I………………….we're from the future. We're from the year 2006."

The gang just stared at me, like I was crazy or something. There was a deadly silence in the room that normally wasn't there because the gang was always loud.

"Soda check her forehead, I think she runnin' a fever" said Darry.

"I'm not sick, I'm telling the truth" I said.

"She being serious" said Soda.

"Your not kidding, are you?" asked Steve. I shook my head no. Why would I want to joke about something like that?

"How'd you get here?" asked Two-Bit.

"I don't know. We just woke up on the highway one day right outside of Tulsa. That was the day that we met Soda and Steve at the gas station. And while I'm being honest, our real names aren't Tori Lewis and Kelsey Wood. I'm Kelsey Lewis and she's Tori Morrow" I said.

"So you were lying to us the whole time?" asked Steve.

"Yeah. I'm sorry but we had to. Do you realize how weird it would have been if we just showed up here one day and said we're from the future? It's not like we wanted to lie, we had to. Your not mad at us, are you?"

The gang thought about it for a moment but then began to say something like a "no" at different times.

"Boy, Dally's gonna be mad when he hears about this" said Two-Bit.

"Yeah, I know, but we'll tell him when the time is right" I said.

"So what happens in the future?" asked Steve. Steve asked the question that was on everybody's mind but no one wanted to ask.

"I can't tell you" I said.

"Wadda ya mean you can't tell us?" asked Soda.

"It might be a bad thing for someone to know too much about the future. I'm sorry but I can't tell you. You'll just hafta find out for yourselves" I said. Everyone looked a bit disappointed but somehow they understood what I meant. Besides, the fun part about the future is the feeling of not knowing what's going to happen. Who am I to spoil that for 6 people? They would have to experience it for themselves. No one else can feel the rain on your skin besides you.

The night was pretty normal except for the fact that we had no idea where Dallas was and if he was serious about calling a rumble. Eventually everyone went to bed. Me, Steve, Johnny, and Tori slept in the living. Darry wouldn't let me get up from the couch so I was basically stuck. I was laying on the couch quietly with the moon light streaming in through the window, when I heard a movement coming from Darry's chair. Tori was having another bad dream and if we didn't do something soon she was going to start screaming. I tried to get up so that I could get her medicine but my leg was stuck the to couch. So I did the next best thing. I picked up a pillow off the floor and threw it at Steve to wake him up. He rolled over and asked "what the hell was that for?"

"You hafta get Tori's medicine" I said, whispering so that I wouldn't wake Johnny up.

"Why can't you get it?"

"I can't get up from the couch remember?"

Steve was about to protest but gave in. I guess he was too tired to fight with me at three in the morning. He came back from the kitchen with two pills and a glass of water. She took the medicine and started to clam down and wake up at the same time. Steve went back to his spot on the floor and fell asleep almost instantly. "What happened?" asked Tori, "why is it so dark in here?"

"Shhhhhh………..everyone's asleep. You had a bad dream. You've been out for hours now. You feelin' ok?" I asked.

"I ache a little but I'm ok. What happened?" repeated Tori.

"We got jumped by a bunch of socs. You got a pretty bad cut on your arm there" I said, pointing to her arm. She looked at her cut and moaned, like it suddenly started hurting her.

"We got it pretty bad this time, didn't we?" asked Tori.

"Yeah. You should of seen Dallas when I woke up. He went crazy" I said.

"Really? What did he do?"

"He said that he was callin' a rumble. That he had finally had it with the Socs. They hit us in the soft spot" I said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, the socs knew that the gang would go totally crazy 'cause they had jumped the babies of the gang, being You, me, Johnny, and Pony. In my opinion, they was askin' for a rumble the minute they stepped into our territory. "  
"I think I know what you mean now" said Tori, sitting back in Darry's chair, "what'd they do to you?"

"They stabbed me in the knee. Kicked me once or twice in the head" I said.

"Looks like Prom is totally out of the question for you" said Tori. I had totally forgotten about prom.

"Yeah I guess. You can still go though and have fun. That's tomorrow night isn't it?"

"Yeah. Won't be the same without you there."

"I think you'll survive somehow." That was the last words that were said. In a minute or so I could hear Tori's light breathing. It took awhile for me to fall asleep but I eventually did. I was awoken the next morning by the sound of a slamming door.

"I told you not to slam the door" came a voice to the kitchen, "your gonna wake them up."

"Sorry" said whoever slammed the door. I blinked a couple of times so that my eyes could adjust to the sunlight. I could see Darry in the kitchen making breakfast and Two-Bit climbing over all the motionless bodies on the floor to get to the kitchen. I wanted to get up but I couldn't find the set of crutches the doctor had given me. I guess Darry had put them away in the closet since I never used them. "Darry?" I said in a week voice.

Darry appeared in the kitchen doorway and said "great, Two-Bit, you woke her up."

"Where are my crutches?"

"They're in the closet. Hang on, I'll go get them." Darry came back in with my crutches and helped me up. I took the easier route to the bathroom so that I would have to walk over the people sleeping on the floor. Since there was someone already in the shower, I had to wait outside. I waited until Soda came out in nothing but a towel. My ears must of turned bright red. That's one thing Pony and I had in common. Our ears turned red whenever we were embarrassed or something. I prayed that Soda didn't notice.

"Mornin', Kelsey" said Soda, making his way to his and Pony's room.

"Mornin'" I said. I slipped into the bathroom before any one else could claim it. The hot water felt good on all of my cuts and bruises. It was weird cause all I could think was "if my mother saw me now." If she could see me not just with all these cuts and stuff but living where I was, she would have a cow. She would never, ever approve of me staying in a house full of boys, and in her words "hoodlums at that." When I first saw the movie, the greasers appeared to be hoodlums but now that I know them, I've learned that they only looked like hoods. On the inside they were completely different except Dallas that is. The shade of difference that separates a greaser from a hood wasn't present in Dallas Winston. I got out of the shower, put on some clothes, and made my way over to the kitchen table before all the chocolate cake was gone.

"How's your knee doin' this mornin'?" asked Darry.

"It still hurts a little but it's okay" I said, rubbing the bandage slightly, "I'm gonna hafta get a new brace though. The Socs lost my other one."

"I don't want you to be going out today. You should stay home" said Darry.

"That's ok. I wasn't planning on going out today" I said. I finished up my breakfast and went back to my couch. I laid there quietly and watched everybody get ready to go to work or school or wherever it is they were going. In about an hour, I was all by myself. It felt kind of nice to be home alone. I was almost asleep when I heard someone come in through the back door.

"Kelsey!" called Dallas from the back door.

"In here!" I replied.

Dallas stepped into the living room, took one look at me and said "damn, they got ya good didn't they kid?"

I nodded my head yes.

"Well don't you worry about that 'cause were gonna have it out with 'em next Saturday. Soc against grease" said Dallas.

"You weren't joking about the rumble were you?"

"Would I joke about something like that? Hey, where's everybody else?" asked Dallas.

"Darry and Soda are at work. Two-Bit, Tori, Pony, Johnny, and Steve are at school, wait a minute, aren't you suppose to be at school too?"

"I can skip can't I? I mean, what's the worst they can do? Kick me out?"

"You don't care if they kick you out?"

"Nope. I thought by now you would've learned that I don't care about nothin'" said Dallas.

"That's kinda hard not to care about anything. You've got to have at least one thing you care about" I said. I did think it was a little weird that Dallas didn't care about anything or anybody.

"And like you do?"

"I care about things. I care about almost everything." I thought it was obvious that I cared about things. I guess I might have to work on that.

"Name one" said Dallas, sitting down in Darry's chair.

"I care about you" I replied honestly. Even though I may have said things to him that I wouldn't normally say to someone, like I hate you, I still cared about him. I didn't cry just for the sake of crying when he died in the book and movie.

"Yeah right. Your just saying that. Nobody cares about me."

"Honestly, I do care about you. You'd be surprised by how many people do."

Dallas got real quiet. It made me sad to know that Dallas thought nobody cared about him. Nobody should think thoughts like that. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Dallas left me about half way through the day and I fell back asleep.

When I woke up, everybody that actually lived in the house was home, well, almost everybody that is. Darry wasn't home yet and he probably wouldn't be home till late.

"Hey, your up" said Tori in a cheery voice from the kitchen.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Couple of hours. You hungry?"

I shook my head no.

"I heard that Dallas stopped by today. What did y'all do?"

"We talked about stuff. Did you hear about the rumble?"

"No."

"Dallas said there's gonna be a rumble next Saturday. Soc against grease" I said.

"You heard about it too?" asked Soda coming into the kitchen.

"Yeah. I don't think I'm gonna be in it though. It'd be a little hard for me to fight with one hand" I said.

"It's ok. I think the gang'll understand if ya don't wanna be in it" said Soda.

"Where's Pony?" I asked.

"He's in his room workin' on homework or something" said Soda. Tori finished up whatever it was she was doing in the kitchen and said "I'm gonna go start getting ready." She left the room to go take her shower. I just sighed and sat back in one of the kitchen chairs. I was really upset about having to miss out tonight. I had been looking forward to this for weeks and thanks to some Soc, I couldn't go. This made me hate the Socs even more.

"Somethin' botherin' ya?" asked Soda.

"Yeah" was all I said.

"It's about prom isn't it?"

I slowly nodded my head yes.

"Don't worry about it, there'll be other proms" said Soda.

"Not like this one."

"And what makes you think this one is so special?"

"Because it's here. Next year I might not even be here. I might be back in 2006" I said.

"That's true but you don't hafta go back do ya?"

"Yes. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love living here with you guys but I belong in 2006. I mean, there's no way I could live the rest of my life without a computer."

"A what?"

"Never mind" I said.

"But you'll be here for the rumble, won't you?" asked Soda, a hopeful expression on his face.

"Yeah. Who else would take care of all the wounded soldiers?" Soda just smiled one of his signature smiles. That was one of the main things I was going to miss about Soda when I left. No one could smile like he did. I went back to the couch and waited for everyone else to get here. It bothered me to see everyone dressed up in there prom attire. Tori looked beautiful that night, like a princess straight out of one of a fairy tale. I was so mesmerized by how beautiful she looked, I didn't realize I was staring.

"Kelsey?" asked Tori.

"What?" I asked, coming back to earth.

"You think I look pretty?" she asked, spinning around so that her dress flew up slightly.

"Absolutely" I replied.

"Lets get a picture of everyone" suggested Darry as he got the camera from the closet. Everyone was in place and Darry was about to take the picture when he noticed something wasn't right.

"Something's missing" said Darry. He thought for a moment. "Kelsey, get in the picture."

"No, no, no. I hate taking pictures" I said. Everyone begged a pleaded until I finally gave in. Besides, that was probably the only chance I was going to get to have a picture taken with everyone. So I got in between Dally and Tori. Darry was about to try to take the picture again when he stopped, again.

"Something still isn't right" said Darry. He thought again and then said "Soda, get in the picture." Soda didn't even bother to protest like I had. I had a feeling that Soda liked having his picture taken. We were about to take the picture when I said "wait. Something still isn't right. Darry, get over here." Darry set the timer on the camera and as soon as he was in place, the flash went off.

"Lets take another" I said "this time a funny one." I always liked doing the goofy group pictures at school. Darry set the timer again and everyone made a funny face. Except for Dallas that is. God forbid he should have a sense of humor. The flash went off and another picture was taken.


	27. rumble

I hope you all don't mind but I used a couple of quotes from the book

Chapter 26

The rumble was upon us before we knew it. To be honest, I was ready for it to come and then be over with so that we could move on with the rest of our lives. That night of the rumble, everybody seemed jumpier then usual, except for me that is. Darry was forcing me to sit this one out. Of course, I couldn't do much damage with a bad knee that I could barley walk on. Before I knew it, everybody was ready to go. Darry decided that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if I just came and watched, out of sight of the Socs that is.

"I am a Greaser" chanted Soda as we walked down the road to the vacant lot. That was where the rumble took place and it was a skin rumble too, which meant no weapons. "I am a JD and a hood" continued Soda.

"I blacken the name of our fair city. I beat up people, rob gas station, and boy do I have fun" I said.

"Greaser…………greaser……………..greaser" sing-songed Steve and Tori, "victim of environment, underprivileged, rotten, no-count hood!"

"Juvenile delinquent your no good!" shouted Darry.

"Get thee hence white trash" said Two-bit in a fake English accent, "I am a Soc. I am the privileged and the well dressed. I throw beer blast, drive fancy cars, break windows at fancy parties."

"And what do you do for fun?" asked Ponyboy.

"I jump greasers!" screamed Two-Bit, doing a cartwheel.

"Listen, Pony and Soda, if the fuzz shows, you two beat it" began Darry.

"Ain't nobody gonna call the fuzz in this neighborhood 'cause they know better" said Steve.

"Yeah but if they do, you two better get outa there. We can get jailed but you two'll be sent to a boys home, ya hear?" finished Darry.

"Don't need the amplifier" said Soda.

When we arrived at the lot, Darry had me sit on the porch of a vacant house. I figured that all I had to do was just sit in the shadows of the porch, watch the fight, and wait till it was all over. Well, the Socs arrived twenty minutes after we did. Leave it up to the rich kids to be fashionably late. They all filed out of there cars, slowly yet surely, each one eyeing our gang, the Shepard gang, and any other gang that was there, coolly. After what seemed like forever, the rumble started with Darry getting hit square in the chin.

Our gang was getting the worst of it but I had a feeling that we were winning somehow. I felt terrible about not being able to help and I must of told Darry that a thousand times. He said that no one was expecting me to help and they didn't want me to fight.

From what I could see, the fight was getting worse and maybe I was wrong about our gang winning.

I was watching Dallas when I could see something sparkle slightly from his opponents waist. I couldn't quite make out what the object was but I knew the opponent. It was Bob. Bob and Dallas were fighting hard and from what I could tell, Dallas was winning. I knew there was no way on earth Bob was ever going to let Dallas win that fight. Just as Bob was about to give up, he pulled out that sparkly object and it was then that I realized what the object was. It was a heater and Bob was going to use it too. He had Dallas down on his knees and the gun pointed right at his head. The whole world stopped except for the rain that was beating on the tin roof above. I got up off the porch and ran to Dallas as fast as I could. There was no way I was going to let him die at the hands of a cold, heartless Soc.

"You leave him alone, you jackass!" I screamed as I ran to him. Bob looked at me and was about to pull the trigger when I started fighting to get it out of his hands. But I was too late. The gun went off and someone was shot but it wasn't Dallas. The last I heard was "get her to the hospital." I think Darry said that but I'm not sure.

After that, I remember waking up in a hospital room yet again but this time I was alone in the room. I looked down at my stomach and I could see two bullet holes. They were bigger then what I thought they would be, not that I was expecting to get shot. I stopped thinking for a moment and heard the doctor outside of my room, talking to the gang.

"The bullets came out" said the doctor "but she's lost too much blood. I'm sorry but she's dieing. We don't know how long she is going to last." Dieing? I'm dieing? But I'm not ready to die! There's so much stuff I haven't done yet!

The doctor then suggested that they come in one at a time, I guess so that they can each say what they wanted to say.

The first was Johnny. I could already tell this was going to be hard on everyone.

"Hey Kelsey" said Johnny.

"Hey Johnny" I said.

"How ya feelin'?" asked Johnny, pulling up a chair beside me.

"A little tired. Did we win?"

"Yeah, we won" said Johnny, on the verge of tears.

"Don't cry" I said.

"Can't help it. I'm gonna miss ya you know."

"I know but you'll be ok without me. You'll probably cry for the first couple of days or so but then you'll get over it and it won't hurt to think of me any more" I said.

"I'll always remember when we first met. We went to the movies and I told Dally to leave ya alone cause he was botherin' ya" said Johnny.

"I almost forgot about that. It's been a little while since" I said. Now that I had thought about it, it had been about half a year since I had met the gang. Johnny was about to leave when I said "Johnny, wait."

Johnny turned around looked at me.

"Promise me something" I began.

"What?"

"Promise me you'll get outa here" I said.

"I'll try" said Johnny before leaving the room. That was the last time I was going to see Johnny. Next came Two-Bit. Two-Bit's eyes were usually laughing and happy, but this night they were stormy and dark.

"Hey, kid" said Two-Bit.

"Hey Two-bit" I said. Two-Bit took a seat next to my bed like Johnny had done.

"I'm gonna miss ya kid. Things will be different without you always getting into trouble around here" said Two-Bit.

"You get into more trouble then I do. I'm not the one who gets drunk almost every night" I said.

"Yeah, that's true. You were always like a little sister to me. I about lost it when I heard you and Tori was in the accident. I'm surprised that I'm able to stand this" said Two-Bit. This is one of the very rare times that I ever saw Two-Bit Mathews serious. Most of the time he was drunk and making jokes but not that night.

"You won't forget me, will you?" I asked.

"Of course not. I should probably go now. Everybody'll get mad at me if they don't have a chance to say goodbye to ya. Ya think ya can hang in there long enough?"

I nodded my head yes. Two-Bit gave me a hug and left. Next came Darry. Now was when the goodbyes started to get harder. For once, Darry's cold eyes were soft and wet. He had been crying long before he entered that hospital room.

"It doesn't hurt, does it?" asked Darry from the corner of the room.

"Not right now" I lied. Of course it hurt but I couldn't tell Darry that. It would break his heart to let him know that I died in pain.

"I can't do this" said Darry.

"Of course you can" I said reassuringly, "your superman. You can do anything."

"Not really" replied Darry.

"Yeah you can. You can take care of me, can't you? Your like the big brother I never had" I said.

"And you and Tori are like the little sisters I never had. I'm going to miss you. Your too young to die" said Darry.  
"I know but I can't help it. If you really want to blame someone, blame Bob for breaking the rules" I said. Darry looked at me funny but then I think he realized what I meant. Darry gave me a hug goodbye and said that he better go and let the others have a turn. He took one last look at me before he left. I'll never forget those eyes, the pieces of blue-green ice. With every second it was getting harder to breathe. Whether it was the fact that I was dieing or these goodbyes where starting to get to me, I couldn't tell you. I also found that it was getting harder for me to keep my eyes open. I closed my eyes for a minute and when I opened them I could see Ponyboy standing in front of me, his eyes red and teary from crying.

"For a second there I thought I was too late" said Pony.

"No. I'm just tired is all" I said.

"I'm sorry" said Ponyboy.

"Sorry for what?"

"If we hadn't walked home, none of this would of happened. We would be back home and you'd be ok. Or we'd be out at the movies and you wouldn't be here in this hospital bed, dieing because some stupid Soc broke the rules" said Pony.

"I didn't want Dallas to die. Y'all could live without me but you couldn't live without him" I said.

"I don't really like Dallas though. I'd rather it be him then you."

"You don't mean that. You like Dallas. You respect him in some odd way. Everybody does, even me. If I don't get to see him, could you tell him that for me?" I asked. Just in case I didn't get to say goodbye to him, I wanted him to know that I respected him. I'm sure he knew that already but I wanted to be absolutely positive. Pony nodded and said "I'll tell him."


	28. I'm Dead

Chapter 27

The next person to come in was Steve.

"Hey kid" said Steve.

"Hey" I said.

"Ya hangin' in there?" asked Steve.

"Seem to be. How's everyone holdin' up out there?"

"Not so good. Tori is a wreck. She's afraid that she won't get to see you" said Steve, "we're gonna miss havin' ya around here kid. Gonna miss ya always getting hurt."

"I did not always get hurt" I protested, "you know, you were always like a big brother to me, even after the accident."

"Did I tell you I was sorry about that?"

"About a million times now. Don't worry, I forgive you. I don't know if Tori does but I do. Your gonna be just fine without me" I said.

"I remember the first time we met. You and Tori were dressed in your pajamas when you walked up to the DX. Soda and I took y'all to the Dingo. Tori got mad at me for some reason" said Steve. I had totally forgotten about that. Had it really been that long ago?  
"Remember when you found me on the front porch?" I asked.

"Yeah. You were freaking out about some dream you had or something" said Steve, "well, I better go. There's still more people out there." Steve gave me a long hug goodbye and left.

A couple of minutes passed before the next person came in. While I was waiting, I thought about the time I had spent in Tulsa. It had been almost a year now, give or take a few months.

The door slowly creaked open and Soda slid in the room, his head hanging low. I said "hey Soda" in almost a whisper.

"Hey" said Soda through tears. Like Pony, Soda's eyes were teary and wet.

"It's ok, Soda" I said, reassuringly.  
"No its not. Your too young to die. Your only 15, it's not right" said Soda.

"I can't help it. This is how it's suppose to be" I said.

"but you just can't die! We need you here" said Soda.

"You don't need me anymore. You got along just fine without me before I came and you'll be fine when I'm gone" I said.

"I can't imagine things without you. It hurts too much to think of you being gone for good. I could barely stand it when you went to go live with Shepard" said Soda.

"Soda, do me a favor" I said.

"Anything" said Soda.

"First of all, go back to school for me and go to college if you can. Second of all, think of me and don't let it hurt" I said.

"I will" said Soda. I knew that was a big commitment for him to go back to school. I remember him telling me once that he was bad at school and the only things that he passed were auto mechanics and gym. Soda gave me a hug and a kiss goodbye. I got my first kiss before I died. I thought I was doing ok up until then. I couldn't hold it in anymore so I cried. I was crying so much, I barely noticed Dallas sitting next to me, crying as well. That was the first time I had ever seen Dallas Winston cry like that.

"I couldn't hold it in anymore" I said finally.

"Neither could I" said Dallas.

"What happened to that wall of emotions you had?"

"Your dieing. That's what happened. It's funny cause, I can stand my parents not loving me and I can stand getting beaten to a pulp every other week and getting thrown in jail but I can't stand this" said Dallas, tears streaming down his face.

"Do me a favor Dallas" I said.

"What's that?"

"Don't do that anymore. It's not good to not show your emotions like that. And do something with your life. Do something that others will benefit from. Don't let this whole Tulsa, greaser, soc thing get to you. Over come it, like Ponyboy will probably do some day" I said. It drove me crazy that Dallas never showed any emotion besides hate and anger. It's not good for someone not to cry. Sometimes you just need to cry for the sake of crying. Dallas gave me a hug goodbye. To be honest, I wasn't all that surprised about the hug. But after that, I cried even harder. Not only because that was the last time I was going to see Dallas but I knew who the next and last person was.

Tori walked in the room, head hung low, and sat down in the chair. I knew she was crying without her even having to look up.

"I can't believe this is really happening" said Tori.

"Me neither" I said in almost a whisper. I would of talked louder but I couldn't. I kept getting more and more tiered. My eyes were ready to give way any second but I had to keep them open a little longer for Tori.

"How ya doin'?" asked Tori.

"Barely hangin' in there" I said.

"I'm going to miss you so much. I can't picture life without you. You were one of my only friends for a long time there" said Tori.

"I know" was all I could say.

"Things won't be the same here. I'll be the only girl" said Tori.

"I know. You'll be ok. You and the rest of the gang will be ok. Tell them that for me. Can you do something else for me?"

"Sure" said Tori.

"Live every day like it's your last because you never know when it will be your last. I wish I could've done that now that I think about it and one last thing, grow up to be anything you want to be and grow up to be the person you've always wanted to be because you never know when that opportunity will be taken away from you. And don't let things get to you like they always do. And last but not least, don't grow up to be some 40 yr. old lady in the unemployment line because your better then that. I know you won't screw your life up like so many in my family have" I said.

Tori was crying a river by now and said "I will and I won't."

And with that, everything went numb and cold. My eyes finally shut and I took my last breathe. That was it for me. I was dead.


	29. Just a dream

Chapter 28

Everything was black. I was laying down somewhere . I could hear voices all around me. At first I couldn't recognize them but then I heard the voices of the gang screaming something like "no!" or "Kelsey!" or anything that you might say to get a dead person to come back to life. Then there was a bright light in front of me. The scene in a 1966 Tulsa hospital room was becoming clear to me. I could see the whole gang standing in the room and the doctors trying to get me to come back. They were using every trick in the book but the line was still flat.

Then I could see another scene. It was a 2006 Jacksonville hospital room. I could see my mother standing by a bed in a room that was decorated with flowers and balloons. I could see myself in that hospital bed with all sorts of machines hooked up to me and soon I could feel myself being sucked into that scene. I looked back and the Tulsa hospital was getting farther and farther away. I tried to get back to it but Jacksonville won and I soon found myself lying in the 2006 hospital room, screaming bloody murder.

"Soda! Dallas!" I screamed. My mom came rushing over to my side, pushing the help button frantically. A doctor came running in a gave me a medicine to calm me down.

"Where's Dallas? I want Dallas!" I demanded.

"Sweetheart, what are you talking about? You don't know a Dallas" said Mom.

"Yes I do! Dallas Winston! Where is he?" I asked.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so glad your back" said Mom giving me a hug, trying to change the subject.

"Where is Dallas? Where's Soda? Where is everybody?" I asked.

"Honey, I don't know what your talking about. You don't know a Dallas Winston or a Soda" said Mom, "everybody went home earlier today." I sat back a relaxed for a minute. Maybe Soda and Dallas and the rest of the gang really where gone.

When the doctor came back in to check on me, my mom asked to talk to him outside. Lucky for me, my mom doesn't know how to whisper so I could hear the whole conversation.

"Why does she keep asking for these people? I have no idea who these people are" said mom.

"We think that these people that she keeps mentioning where in some sort of a dream when she was in her coma. We believe that, perhaps while she was in her coma she was living in another world and time and that's why it took her almost a year to come out of it" said the doctor in a hushed tone.

"Is there anything we can do to help her?"

"I would suggest a psychiatrist. Maybe a psychiatrist will help her realize that these people are just figments of her imagination" said the doctor.

"But what about Tori?" asked mom. It hadn't even occurred to me to ask about Tori.

"You should tell her what happened. I think she is stable enough to handle the truth" said the doctor, holding the door open for my mom. I went back to whatever position I was in before she left the room to make her think I wasn't listening.

"Mom?" I asked.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"What happened to me?"

My mom took a deep breath before telling me, "sweetheart, when you and Tori were coming home from school, you were in a very bad car accident. It was raining very badly and a car from the other lane slid and hit you. You've been in a coma for almost a year now. You won't be able to walk without a cane or crutch or something" said Mom, tears filling her eyes.

"What happened to Tori?"

"She disappeared the day after the accident. She couldn't handle you fighting for your life every day" said mom.

"What happened when I was in the coma?"

"Nothing. We talked to you and I read you some of your favorite books a couple of times" said Mom.

"Like what?"

"Um……… Tuck Everlasting, to kill a mockingbird, A river runs through it, I think I even read The Outsiders to you once. Played the movie a couple of times too. I did anything to try to get you to wake up. The doctors probably thought I was crazy or something" said Mom, holding her head in her hands.

"No. They probably think I'm the crazy one but these people I keep talking about really did exist. I really did meet them" I said.

"I'm sure you did, sweetheart. I believe you" said Mom. Obviously she didn't believe me either.

"You don't believe me. I can prove it to you. See this scar on my cheek? I got this when Soda and I got jumped by the Socs. Two-Bit used black thread to stitch it up. You see, Soda ran away 'cause he was upset about his girlfriend and I had to go find him and……"

"Kelsey, Soda and Two-Bit are not real. You don't even know a Soda or Two-bit. You got that cut from the accident" interrupted Mom.

"But Mom it was real I swear" I pleaded.

"You know, maybe Dr. James was right. Maybe we should look into getting you a psychiatrist." Dr. James? Dr. James? Where had I heard that name before?

"Dr. James, that's the doctor that I had when I was in the hospital after the accident when Steve, Soda, Tori and I were on our way to the Tastee Freeze" I said. Mom just set her head down on the table and after awhile, she fell asleep like that. Mom had probably spent every night with me since this so called car accident.

"Mom, are you ok? You look sick" I said.

"I'm just exhausted. I want all of this to be over so that we can get on with our normal lives. The whole family is exhausted. Your father and I have spent nights and nights here with you since the accident" said Mom.

"But mom……."

"Don't start with me now. I'm overly happy to see you awake but I am in no mood to deal with your stories right now. I would love to hear them in the morning."


	30. author's note

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the great comments so far! I know this may sound like a stupid question but i need you guys to help me on something. I've written about 6 more chapters but i don't know if i should post them. Should I? or should i not? reply yes or no please. Thanks so much! TTYL!

ponygurl51090

Oh yeah just so you guys aren't confused everything that happens after the girls get to Kelsey's house is part of the dream.


	31. Dr Closson

Chapter 29

"So, Kelsey, how are you today?" asked Dr. Closson, who was the psychiatrist.

"Fine" I said.

"How have you been since the accident?"  
"As good as can be expected I suppose."

"Have you had anymore of your dreams? Have you seen those boys again?"

"You mean Soda and Ponyboy and the rest of the greasers?"

"Yes. Have you seen them?" repeated Dr. Closson.

"No" I replied.

"I know you've told me this before but would you mind describing these boys to me again?" asked Dr. Closson.

"Well, there's Ponyboy. Ponyboy is 14 and he's the brainy one of the bunch. He use to have dark brown hair but he bleached it so now it's really blonde. He lives with his brothers Darry and Soda. Pony's the youngest of the bunch and he's probably gonna be one of the very few who actually gets outa Tulsa. Then there's Darry. Darry is 20 and he use to play football in high school. He doesn't understand anything that is plain fact but he's got common sense. He's real muscular and has cold eyes but not as cold as Dallas. He also has a slight cowlick. Then there's Soda. If I had to pick a favorite out of the gang, it would be Sodapop Curtis. He's always happy and he has a grin that's one of a kind. He's real cute too and horse crazy. He dropped out of school so that he could Darry out with the bills and stuff. He thinks he's dumb but I don't think he is" I said.

"And what about the rest of the gang?" asked Dr. Closson before I could finish.

"Well, there's Two-Bit who has these eyes that are grey and always laughing. He loves Mickey Mouse and he can't stop making jokes. Then there's Steve. Steve is Soda's best friend and he works part time at the DX. He loves cars and girls, like Soda. He's kinda lean looking with black greasy hair, kinda like Johnny's. Johnny is like the pet of the gang. He's got these big puppy dog eyes. His parents beat him a lot too. Then there's Dallas. Dallas is the tuffest one of the bunch. He spent three years in New York before he came to Tulsa. He was arrested at ten. Ummm……..he has blonde hair and he doesn't like using hair grease. And last but not least, there's Tori. She was my best friend. She was kinda short and had long dirty blonde hair. I could tell her anything. If she were here, she'd believe me" I said.

"Good" said Dr. Closson as she wrote things down frantically on her pad of paper, "that'll be all for today. You can send your mom in now."

I got up from the little couch thing that in Dr. Closson's office and got my mom from the waiting. I pretended to stay in the waiting room but I sat down outside of the doctor's office and listen in on the session. I tried to keep my new baby brother as quiet as possible but he still made little noises here and there. At the beginning of the session it was just some standard questions about me but then at the end Dr. Closson said something I didn't expect her to say.

"Maybe you should take her to Tulsa. Have her take her to the places that were in her dream if she can find them."

That day my mom went home and bought plane tickets for the flight that left for Tulsa the next day.

"Are you excited about the trip tomorrow?" asked Dad at dinner time.

"More nervous than anything" I replied, putting more spaghetti on my plate.

"Maybe this will finally prove that your not crazy" said Jillian.

"I'm not crazy!" I yelled.

"Of course not. Are you all packed for tomorrow?" asked Mom.

"Almost. I just need to back a few more things and then I'll be ready" I said.

"Be sure to bring back pictures that is if these people actually exist" said Jillian, smirking.

"Jillian that's enough" said Mom.

"These people are real. You know, the least you can do is pretend to be nice about it" I said.

"Crazy, crazy, crazy" chanted Jillian.

"Yeah crazy" agreed Stephen.

I threw my fork down on my plate and asked "can I be excused?"

"Yes you may" said Dad.

I got up, put my plate in the sink, and marched to my room to finish packing. While I was packing, I could hear my family talking at the dinner table.

"Why did you have to go and say all those things? You know how hard this has been on her" said Mom.

"You've heard her talk about those people. She acts like they're real when they're not. They're all in her head" said Jillian.

"I know but we've got to help her and you talking to her like that is not helping at all" said Mom, "this trip is the last resort."

"Besides a lock down in a physic ward?" asked Jillian.

"That is the absolute last resort and we don't want that to happen to her" said Mom. That was where the conversation ended.

It had never occurred to me that they might send to a asylum. I thought it was only serial killers and people like that. The thought of being locked down in one of those rooms with padded walls and having to wear a straightjacket. There was no way I was going to sleep easy that night.


	32. Back in Tulsa

Chapter 30

I had never been to the Tulsa airport before. It was small and crowded. But most of those people weren't staying there, they were just waiting for a connecting flight. The cab picked us up and took us to the hotel. The city looked a lot different from what I remembered but then again, the Tulsa I was use to was in 1966. This was the 2007 Tulsa. We got settled in our hotel, which was in Soc territory by the way, and ordered room service.

"Since it's getting late, we'll go out and have a look around first thing tomorrow morning, ok?" suggested Mom over dinner.

"Yeah. Sounds good. Listen, I'm really tired so I'm just gonna go to bed" I said.

"Ok, sweetie, see you in the morning" said mom. I put on my PJ's and climbed into the big bed. Even though the bed was nice and soft, I didn't sleep so good that night.

I was awoken the next morning by the soft sound of the TV. The baby was watching Mickey's Playhouse. It reminded me of the mornings in the Curtis house except there was no chocolate cake to be found. In case you were wondering, he's not really a baby. He's two years old with blonde hair and brown eyes. In the summertime his hair was bleached to a goldish color.

"You better get a move on. I want to see the city today" said Mom, drying her hair. I got up, ate breakfast, and got dressed. For the first day, my mom hired a baby sitter to come and watch the baby. Before I knew it, we were in the rental car that had been dropped off at the hotel earlier that morning.

"Where to first?" asked Mom.

"I dunno. Why don't we head over to the east side for a little while" I suggested. My mom didn't protested so we drove over to the east side. At first nothing looked familiar and eventually we had to stop for gas. While Mom was pumping, I saw an add on a billboard across the street that read "Darryl's roofing company. For all your roofing needs" and it gave the phone number and address of the office. At first I didn't think anything of it but then something clicked. I remember Darry use to work for a roofing business. I frantically wrote down the phone number and address. I tried calling the number first but all I got was the answering machine.

"Who are you calling?" asked Mom.

"I was calling that roofing company over there. Remember Darry? The guy I told you about on the plane. I think this might be him" I said.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I'm not. I just have this feeling that this is him though. Can we at least try the address?"

Mom thought about it for a minute but then said "fine" and we were off to the roofing company.

The office part of the building was small and square where as the place where all the equipment was stored was huge.

"Excuse me but is there a Darryl Curtis here? You see, I'm his niece and there's a family emergency with his brother, Ponyboy, and it's absolutely necessary that I speak with him right away" I lied to the lady at the front desk.

"Please have a seat" said the receptionist.

The receptionist picked up the phone and called somebody. I couldn't exactly make out what she was saying but when she hung up she said "Mr. Curtis is in his office. It's down the hall and to your left." At first Mom didn't want to come, but I insisted and said that it would be good for her and Darry to meet. I took a deep breathe before knocking.

"It's open" came a voice from the other side.

I stepped into a small, brown office that had a desk and two chairs. The two chairs where in front of the desk and there was one big one behind the desk. The desk had a lot of pictures on it and just by looking at the pictures, I could tell I had the right Darryl Curtis.

"What is it? I am very busy today" said Darry, not even looking up at me.

"Darry?" I asked. The elderly gentlemen that was sitting before me didn't look like Darry at all. His skin was wrinkled slightly and his hair was lighter then what I remembered it. He was also wearing glasses.

Darry looked up at me and stopped whatever it was he was doing.

"Kelsey Lewis?" asked Darry.  
"It's me" I said.

Darry shook his head and said "no. It's not possible. Kelsey Lewis died over forty years ago from a gun shot wound."

"Darry it's me" I began, "I can prove it to you. Remember that night when everyone got arrested for being in a fight. You and I stayed home and we played Sorry."

"How did you know about that? Nobody knows about that" said Darry.

"It's me. You've got to believe me. I can even show you where I got shot" I said. I lifted up my shirt slightly so that he could see the bullet holes. My family claims that they were from the accident but I knew they were gun shots. Darry gasped slightly and said "it really is you."

"Yeah. My dieing was my way of going back to 2006" I said. Darry shot up from his chair and gave me a long awaited hug. After we were done hugging I said "Darry, there's someone I'd like you to meet. Darry this is my mom. Mom this is Darry. He's the one who took care of me" I said.

"Nice to meet you ma'am" said Darry, holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you too" said mom, shaking Darry's hand "Kelsey's told me so many wonderful things about you."

"You've got a wonderful kid here, Mrs. Lewis" said Darry.

"Oh, well, thanks for taking such good care of her while she was gone" said Mom.

"Please sit down, we've got so much catching up to do" said Darry, sitting back down in his chair.

"So Darry, or does everybody call you Darryl now?" I asked.

"Most call me Darryl but the gang still calls me Darry. You can call me Darry if you want."

"Ok. So, what's been happening with you since I've been gone?"

"Well, lets see. After you left I finally saved up enough money to go to college but it was only the University of Oklahoma so I didn't go far. After college, I went back to the roofing business and eventually started my own company. When I was about 25 I met my wife Lisa and we had three wonderful kids."

"What are there names?" I asked.

"Well there's my oldest one, Henry. He's married now but he's off fighting the war in Iraq. Then there's my middle child Sarah. She's the artsy one of the bunch. She works on a lot of animated movies now. She draws all the pictures for the story boards and stuff. And last but not least there's my youngest Jake who just got married last year and is working in the roofing business now. What's been going on with you?"

"Nothing much. Just finishing up school for the year. I've been in and out of the hospital a couple of times. I have to go see a psychiatrist now" I said.

"Why?"

"Because they think I'm making the whole gang and everything we did together up. They think it was just a crazy dream I had when I was in a coma."

"That's crazy" said Darry.

"I know, isn't it?"

"Listen, Mr. Curtis, we really must be going. We have so much to do today in our short time here so we must say goodbye now" said Mom practically pulling me out of my chair.

"Wait Darry, let me give you my e-mail address and phone number." I frantically scribbled down my number and address and handed it to Darry, "oh yeah, one more thing. Can you tell me where we can find Johnny?"

"Ummm…… I believe he has a house over on the west side now. Here's his address" said Darry, handing me a card that had an address on it. I gave Darry one last hug goodbye before my mother started dragging me down the hall.

The car ride to the Cade residence was silent. When we found the address, I saw this gigantic white house in front of me.

"You sure we have the right address?" I asked. There was no way this could be Johnny's house.

"8282 Riding Club Road" said Mom. I checked the number on the gate and sure enough it said 8282. We drove up the to gate and waited for someone to open it.

"I'm sorry" said a voice coming from the box next to the car, "but there is not soliciting at this residence. Have a nice day."

"No wait" I said, "we're here to see Mr. Cade. Can you let us in please?" I asked.

"Who may I ask is this?"

"Tell him this is Kelsey Lewis." A couple of minutes passed before the gates finally opened. My mom drove us up to the house and parked the car right outside the front door. When we rang the doorbell, a butler answered.

"We're here to see Mr. Cade" I said.

"Right this way, ma'am" said the butler, showing us into the house. Everything in the house was white. I was surprised the butler didn't make us take our shoes off before entering. The butler led us to what I guess was the living room. The living room had two white sofas with a coffee table in between them. There was a huge crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. I sat down on one of the sofas cautiously and waited for Johnny.

"This is a nice house" said Mom.

"Looks like the house you see right before Cameron's house in queens harbor" I said. Just as I said that, I heard foot steps coming down the stairs. A guy that looked to be around fifty-three came into the room but knowing that it was probably Johnny, his real age was probably fifty-six.

"Johnny?" I asked.

"Kelsey?" said Johnny, "I thought you were dead." I told him that me dieing was my way of going back.

"It's been a long time" said Johnny, taking a seat on the sofa across from us.

"It's been forty years for you" I said.

"That's a long time. Is this your mom?"

"Oh, yeah, Mom this is Johnny Cade. Johnny this is my mom" I said. Johnny and Mom shook hands.

"So, all this is yours?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Who would've known? I would of never guess that the Johnny Cade that looked like he had been kicked one too many times would have all this. What's happened to you over the past forty years?" I asked.

"Well, when I was 18 I got emancipated from my parents and I stayed with the Curtis' for a little while. I saved enough money to go to college in California. And then I came back here and I got started in the computer business and that's how Cade's Computers came about. That's how I was able to afford this house. When I was about 23 maybe 24 I met my wife Phyllis and we have two kids named Julia and Daniel who are grown now."

"And what do they do?" I asked.

"Well Julia is a fashion designer for Ralph Lauren and Daniel owns a restaurant in Brevard, North Carolina called Rocky's Soda Shop. Ironically it's right next to Bullwinkle's gift shop" said Johnny.

"Hey, we've been there. We go to Rocky's every summer" I said.

"What a coincidence. So, how have you been?" asked Johnny. I told him everything I had told Darry and he had about the same reaction. I told him all about the car accident and what happened to my knee and stuff like that. We talked for a bout an hour or so.

"Well, I hate to break this up" began Johnny, "but I really need to get back to work now. It was good seeing you again Kelsey. How long are you in town for?"

"Two, maybe three more days" I said.

"We should do lunch sometime before you go. I hope you have a nice time here for the rest of your trip and if you ever need anything, call me" said Johnny, handing me his business card.

"I will. Thanks Johnny. Here, let me give you my number in Florida. By the way, do you know whatever happened to Two-Bit?" I asked as I wrote down all my contact information.

"If I'm not mistaken, I think he works for Disney. He should be at the Disney store in the mall today. It's over on the east side. It's not that hard to find, you should be able to find it. It's right across from the old drive in that we went to" said Johnny. I handed him the piece of paper I had written everything down on. I gave him one last hug goodbye. Before I left he said "I'm sorry I never got out of here."

"What are you talking about?"

"Before you died you said you wanted me to get out of Tulsa. I'm sorry I never got out."

I smiled at him and said "it's ok. You have all this and family and friends here." That was the last time I was to see Johnny.

During the car ride to the mall my mom said "this is going to be our last stop for today. I'm sorry I never believed you, Kelsey."

"It's ok, Mom." And those were the last words that were spoken until we got to the school. The mall was a lot bigger then what I remembered. I had seen it once or twice when we walked to the movies. The Disney store was right inside the mall so it wasn't that hard to find.

"Can I help you?" asked a girl from behind the counter.

"Um, I'm looking for a Keith Mathews. I was told I could find him here today" I said.

"Hold on. Let me get 'em for you. I don't think he's put the costume on yet. Daddy!" called the girl. Moments later, a man appeared from the back of the store. He was wearing khaki pants and a button down short sleeve shirt

"Yes?" asked the man with his back towards us

"There's some people here who want to see you" replied the girl

"Two-Bit?" I asked.

Two-Bit paused. "No bodies called me that in years. How do you know that name?"

"Two-Bit, it's me. It's Kelsey Lewis."

"I don't know any Kelsey Lewis. The only Kelsey Lewis I knew died forty years ago" said Two-Bit. Two-Bit finally turned around to look at me.

"It's me. I didn't die, I went back to the future."

"It really is you" he said with wide eyes. They were the same grey, laughing eyes that he had forty years ago when we met at the Tastee Freeze.

"Do people still call you Two-Bit or does everyone call you Keith now?" I asked.

"Most people call me Keith but you can call me Two-Bit. Your one of the few people who are allowed to call me that" said Two-Bit.

"I always knew you where going to have a job that involved Mickey Mouse" I said.

"Yeah well, I thought I might put my love for the mouse to good use"

"What happened after I left?" I asked.

"Well, after you left I went to college, got married, and then got divorced. I have two kids named Taylor and Paloma. Paloma is Spanish for dove. Paloma is the one that you just met a few minuets ago. I came back here after college. Thank God my kids didn't get mixed up in that whole Soc, Greaser thing like you and I did" said Two-Bit.

"Hey, being a greaser wasn't that bad" I said.

"Speak for yourself."

"I thought you liked it."

"No, I just made one big joke out of it but you didn't seem to mind."

"That's because I spend all day around rich, stuck up brats and it was nice to meet people who didn't have money to get in the way of things" I said.

"Well put" said Two-Bit, "well, if you'll excuse me but I promised that I would put on the old Mickey costume for the kids today"

"Say no more. I understand. It was good seeing you again, Two-Bit. Let me give you my phone number and stuff" I said, writing everything down on a piece of paper.

"Have you seen Dallas yet?" asked Two-Bit.

"No, not yet. I've only seen you, Johnny, and Darry. I'll hafta wait till tomorrow to see everybody else" I said.

"Oh, well, let me give you his address. It may be a little hard for you to find him today" said Two-Bit, giving me Dallas' address. I took the address, gave Two-Bit a hug goodbye.

"It was nice to see you again Kelsey. I'm glad your back even though it is just for a little while" said Two-Bit. I smiled at him and was about to leave the store when he asked "you know what comes in handy when you get jumped by a bunch of social outcast?"

"What's that?"

"To be another social outcast" said Two-Bit. I laughed like I hadn't laughed in a long time. After all these years, Two-Bit Mathews still had that sense of humor.

During the car ride home mom ask, "do you want to stop for dinner?"

"Yeah sure" I replied.

We drove until we found this old drive in theater that had a dinner attached to it. At first my mom said no and that it looked like a bad place to be but then I told her that we would have to drive all the way back over to the west side to find a decent place. She said "well, in that case. I guess this place will just have to do."

The sign that you saw as you first drove in said "welcome to the Dingo drive in and diner." The Dingo? Had I been here before? Did I come here with the gang maybe?

Mom and I walked into the diner and sat in a booth in the back. "This is a quaint little diner, isn't it?" asked Mom.

"Yeah. It seems familiar though. I think maybe I've been here before" I said, studying the place a little bit. Then I remembered.

"I've been here" I said.

"When?" asked Mom a bit shocked.

"Soda and Steve took Tori and I here when we first came here. We sat in this exact booth. This is where I first met Two-Bit. He was wearing a grey Mickey mouse shirt with a leather jacket and jeans. There's was a lot more smoke and a lot more kids in here back then" I said. The Dingo had turned into one of those cheesy 50's themed diners where all the tourist and little kids came to have 'the worlds best milkshakes.' Unfortunately though, it didn't look like the theatre part was working. The screen and the concession stand was still there but the lot looked disserted.

"See that concession stand over there?" I asked, pointing to the stand out the window.

"Yeah. What about it?" asked Mom.

"This is where Tori, Pony, Johnny, Dallas, and I came when I first met Johnny and Dallas. Dallas was bugging me during the movie and Johnny made him leave me alone" I said. Tears were forming in my eyes and the thought of Dallas and Tori at the same time was a bit overwhelming. I wiped them away quickly before my mom saw. She would start to worry about me if she ever saw me crying. We finished up our dinner and went back to the hotel. I didn't get any sleep that night. I normally don't sleep a whole lot any more. Mom says it's not healthy but it doesn't effect me.


	33. Steve

Chapter 31

Seeing that Tulsa sunrise again brought back so many memories of the gang and how the city was when I was there with the Curtis'.

I was awake before Mom that morning

"How did you sleep last night?" asked Mom when she finally woke up.

"Not so good. Today is a big day" I said.

"How is that?"

"I get to see the rest of the gang. The people we are going to see today are the part of the gang I was closest to" I said.

"Oh, I see" said Mom, "you should probably get a move on. We probably have a lot of ground to cover today." I got my shower, got dressed, and ate breakfast as fast as I could. I wanted to get out of that hotel room as soon as possible. I called the baby sitter to make sure she was coming but of course she cancelled on us on the last minute. She had that 24 hour flu so of course, we had to take the baby with us.

"Where should we go today?" asked Mom.

"I dunno. I'm not really up to going to go see Dallas just yet. I wanna wait till this afternoon" I said.

"Ok" said Mom, "would you like to do some shopping instead? Dr. Closson said it would be good for us if we did some normal things while we're here."

I said ok. So my mom and I walked up and down the little shopping centers that were on the east side. For awhile there, I forgot while we were actually there. Shopping with my mom in Tulsa was the most fun I had had in a long time. Since I woke up from the coma, my whole attitude and the way people treat me has change. People either give me unwanted attention or they look at me like I've gone completely crazy. The sad part is that the people that give me the unwanted attention are the people I can't stand and the people who think I'm crazy are the ones I love and are very close to me. This trip was going to fix everything. Not only would I have proof that I wasn't lying but I would have a witness.

After about three hours of shopping we needed to stop at a gas station. Mom gave me some money to go in a buy both of us something to drink. Since I was pretty thirsty, I wasted no time in getting myself a Pepsi. I took the baby inside with me so he wasn't sitting in the hot car. When I was in line to pay for the drinks, the customer in front of me was having some sort of problem with the employ behind the counter. The customer demanded he see the owner. Not the manager but the owner. It must have been pretty bad for the customer to ask for the owner. A man who I guessed to be the owner stepped behind the counter and handled the situation with ease. He dismissed the employ and rung up the customer. When I stepped up to the counter the man just looked at me with wide eyes and gasped slightly. His eyes started watering.

"Is something wrong, sir?" I asked.

"You don't recognize me?" asked the man.

I shook my head no. I would have looked at the man's nametag but since he was the owner he wasn't wearing one.

"Would you mind stepping into my office with me?" asked the man. I said yes but I would have to have my mom come with us. I got my mom from the car and led her to were the man was standing my the garage.

"What is this?" asked Mom.

"I don't know. I think we might be in some sort of trouble" I said, pulling my mom and my brother towards the garage. The man greeted us with a warm smile and lead us through the garage to his office.

"Does none of this look familiar to you?" asked the man.

"No, I'm sorry but it doesn't." The man took a seat in the chair behind his desk. The desk looked rather plain and boring but the name on the desk stood out.

"Steve?" I asked, shocked to see him.

"You remember!"

"I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner" I said.

"Do you recognize the building?"

I took another look around the office. I had been in here before. This was Sam's old office. I use to come in here every Friday to get my paycheck.

"This is the DX" I said after a while, "it looks different."

"We've done some renovations on it since."

"Oh, Steve this is my mom. Mom, this is Steve Randle. Steve and I worked here together" I said.

"It's nice to finally meet you. Kelsey has told me so much about you" said Mom, shaking Steve's hand.

"It's nice to meet you too" said Steve, smiling.

My mom and I sat down in the two chairs that were in front of Steve's desk.

"How long have you been here?" asked Steve.

"About a day or so" I said, "we're staying here till Friday."

"I thought you died. We all thought you were dead" said Steve.

I explained everything to him like I had done with everybody else. I told him about the accident, the coma, people thinking I was crazy, and the psychiatrist.

"I'm sorry" said Steve with tears in his eyes.

"It's ok. I'm hoping that maybe after this trip I won't have to go back to the psychiatrist. Maybe they'll start believing me from now on" I said. It was a lot to hope for but it was worth a shot. My family is one of those families where in most cases they have to see it to believe it and since my family didn't see that gang or Tulsa they didn't believe me.

"I see you still have that cane" said Steve, looking down at his feet.

"Yeah, but I'm use to it now. I'm so use to it, I barely realize I have it" I said. I hope Steve didn't think that my cane was still his fault. I can't tell you how many times I told him it was an accident yet.

"So have you seen the whole gang yet or are you just getting started today?"

"Well, so far I've seen Darry, Johnny, and Two-Bit. I was hopping I could see everyone else today" I said, taking a look around the office. Steve had a lot of pictures in there. Some of the people were very familiar and some I had never seen before.

"Who are all these people?" I asked.

"Family. And the gang of course."

"You get married?" I asked.

"Yeah. A couple of times actually after the war" said Steve.

"War?"

"Yeah. About two maybe three years after you left I got drafted to go to Vietnam. I fought over there for a year and that was where I met my first wife, Mimi. She was a nurse and I had been shot in the leg. She nursed me back to health and eventually we got married but it ended up not working out. Another year later I met a lady named Nicole. We got married and adopted two kids named Isabella and Connor. Then we got divorced after 11 years and now I'm married to a lady named Katie. We've had one daughter together named Suri. There good kids too. Suri reminds me a lot of you. She kinda looks like you too."

"That's cool" I said. Steve and I talked for what seemed like hours about different things. He told me about how he had come to own the DX and how different it was after I was gone.

"If you haven't noticed, I renamed the station after you" said Steve. I just thought it was coincidence that the station was called "Kelsey's". There have been a lot of places that had the name Kelsey. There is this hotel in North Carolina called the Kelsey House. As a matter of fact, the whole city use to be called The Kelsey Plato (I'm not sure how you spell that).

Like I had done with everyone else, I gave Steve all my contact info. I was walking through the garage when I remembered the time Steve told us about his sister. The vision of Tori and I sitting on the counter and Steve leaning against a '65 mustang was still fresh in my mind.

I spun around and asked my mom "you were adopted weren't you?"

Mom was taken off guard by the question but she answered "Yes. I was adopted in New Jersey by Mom-mom and Pop-pop. You know that."

"Do you know your birthmother's name?"

"I think it was Stephanie Randle but that's all I know about her. I haven't heard from her. Why do you want to know?"

"I think Steve is your uncle. He told me a story that was very similar to yours and at first I thought it was just a coincidence but I don't think it is now" I said. My mom and I walked back to Steve's office to talk to him.

"You forget something?" asked Steve.

"Do you remember that story you told Tori and I about your sister Stephanie?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I know your niece."

Steve's eyes lit up like fireworks on the 4th of July. "Really?" asked Steve.

"You did say her name was Cherie, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you did say she was adopted in New Jersey?"

"Yes."

"Then I think your niece is my mom." I stepped outside the office and dragged my mom inside. The room was silent for a minute until my mom finally spoke "it's nice to meet a blood relative. Maybe you could tell me what happened to my mom." Mom and I sat back down in the chairs and Steve told her the same thing he had told me. I held my mom's hand the whole time. I knew this was hard for her to learn about what happened to her and about how Steve had basically saved her life. By the time Steve was done, Mom was crying.

Between sobs, Mom managed to say "thank you" and gave Steve a hug. They talked for a little while about what had happened to my mom after the adoption, about how her and my dad met, and stuff like that. After about an hour and a half, Mom was finally ready to leave. When my mom and I were about half way to the car, I stopped suddenly. I had been thinking about what had happened with mom and Steve. If Steve hadn't saved her, there would be no me. I felt a sudden urge to run back to Steve and give him the worlds longest hug. And I did just that. I ran as fast as I could through the garage, down the hall, back to the office. Steve had already started on some paper work that was spread across his desk. He looked up at me, smiled, and said "back again?" Without saying a word I gave him a hug. He reacted as if he knew what I was hugging him for.

"Thanks, Steve" I said, looking up at him with teary eyes.

"No problem kiddo. Now get outa here, Dallas'll be dieing to see you" said Steve letting me go slowly. When I was about half way down the hall, l yelled "if your ever in Florida, you know how to reach me!"

Steve yelled back "if your ever in Tulsa, you know how to reach me!" I sort of giggled and went back to the car. It was time to go see Dallas.


	34. Whatever happend to Soda?

Chapter 32

"Thanks Kelsey" said my mom quietly.

"For what?"

"If it weren't for you, I would never of known what happened to my birth mom. Sure, it was painful to learn the truth but I needed to know. Mom-mom and Pop-pop never told me what really happened and when I called the adoption agency they just told me her name and wouldn't tell me the rest. I think I can say that we will definitely be back here. Are you ready to go see………what's his name again? Dallas?" asked Mom.

"Yeah. I think it's time" I said. I had been waiting for a long time to see Dallas again and he had been waiting forty years now. It was time. It was time that he knew the truth about Tori and I.

We arrived at the address that Two-Bit had given us about 30 minutes after we left the gas station. I double checked the address to see if it was right and sure enough we had the right address. My mom and I walked into the building slowly. It wasn't as big as the one I was use to back home but I guess it doesn't matter what size the building is just as long as you show up.

"May I help you ladies?" asked a guy that was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

"Um, yeah, I'm looking for a Dallas Winston. I was told I could find him at this location" I explained to the guy.

"Um, you know what, he just stepped out of his office a little while ago but if you'd like to wait, I'm sure he'll be back soon" said the guy, "by the way if you need anything my name is Tim Grey."

"Thanks Tim. I think we'll wait in his office" I said. Tim said ok and led us to his office. We waited for what seemed like hours until I finally heard voices outside.

"Uh, sir, there are two ladies in your office waiting for you. They didn't say what they wanted" said Tim.

"Thanks Tim" said an unfamiliar voice. An elderly gentlemen stepped through the door and took a seat at his desk without looking at me.

"How may I help you ladies?" asked the man. When I didn't answer my mom spoke for me "we were looking for a man by the name of Dallas Winston but clearly we must have the wrong office."

"No, no. You have the right office. I'm Dallas. Well, if you want to be correct then I guess that would make me Preacher Dallas Winston. How may I help you?" Preacher? Preacher! Dallas Winston of all people!

"Preacher?" I asked, shocked to the core.

Dallas' head shot up at the sound of my voice. "Kelsey? What are you doing here?"

"Tori never told you?"

"You mean about you two being from the future? Yeah she told me but she didn't tell me you were in town this week. What are you doing here?"

"I had to come back. I had to prove I was right about everything."

"What are you talking about?"

"When I died, I went back to the future. It turns out I was in a coma. There was some sort of car accident the day before Tori and I came here. I had to prove those people that they were wrong and that I was really in Tulsa in 1966. Everybody thought I was crazy because I talked about you and the rest of the gang a lot. I can't believe that you're a preacher. What made you want to be a preacher?"

"Well, after you died I moved back to New York. I got involved with some of my old friends again which led to drinking and a drug addiction. It got so bad to where I practically had to beg my friends for more drugs every hour. I couldn't get by one day without getting high at least once. The people who I thought were my friends kicked me out when I got worse and so I moved back here to Tulsa. I still did a lot of drugs here but the connections up in NYC are way different from the ones here. Once Darry found out about my addiction he sort of took me in and let me stay with him. I guess I have him to thank for getting me off drugs. He kept me locked up in that house all day in your old room and cleaned the house out completely of anything that I might use to get high. Those were the longest seven months of my life. During those seven months, Tori started taking me to church with her. At first I wasn't interested and never listened to the sermon but then I remember hearing this one sermon about asking God for help whenever your in trouble. I tried it and obviously it worked. Then Tori convinced me to go back to school. So I went back and graduated high school. Then I let Tori talk me into going to Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, Tennessee. That's where I decided to become a preacher. I wanted to help kids who had been through the same situations that I had been through. I wanted to tell them that there was a light at the end of the tunnel and there was something better out there waiting for them, ya know?"

"That doesn't sound like the Dallas I knew" I said.

"Well, I've changed since. Do you remember what you told me that night forty years ago?" asked Dallas. I tried hard to remember but I couldn't.

"You told me not to have that wall of emotions. You told me to do something useful with my life and something that others will benefit from. And you told me to over come being a greaser. I can't tell you how many times I've told kids that same exact thing. I've had different kids come in here and tell me that they just wanna kill themselves or they don't have any other options and I always tell them to do something useful and that they will overcome this. I overcame it eventually" said Dallas. He had tears in his eyes, like the last time I saw him.

"I'm happy to know I could help."

"I wanted to thank you for saying those things to me. Had it not been for you and Tori , I would of gone off the deep end, robbed a convenience store and gotten myself killed."

"Your welcome" I said, smiling from ear to ear.

"So, what's been happening with you lately?" asked Dallas, leaning back in his chair, grinning. He hadn't lost that same reckless grin he had forty years ago.

"Nothing really. I've been seeing a psychiatrist since I came out of the coma. She's the one who suggested I come back to Tulsa. I've seen just about everybody except Tori, Soda, and Pony. Maybe I'll get lucky and see them today. What's been going on with you besides what you just told me?"

"You mean have I gotten married or anything?"

"Yeah."

"I was married right when I got out of college. My wife's name is Anna but I call her Annie. We have a son named Noah who just graduated from Milligan Bible College. And we have two daughters, Ally and Austin. Ally just graduated from high school and is about to start school at UNC in the fall. Austin is just going into high school. She got her first job this summer working at the Disney store down at the mall. The thought of Two-Bit being her boss is weird."

"The thought of you being a preacher is just weird" I said.

"You make a good point" said Dallas.

"So do you still talk to the rest of the gang or have you guys kind of separated over the years?" I asked.

"We still talk to each other sometimes. It's just hard to get together 'cause some of us live so far away from the city. Besides, the gang is never really complete without you here. You ever think of moving here?" asked Dallas.

"I might move back here when I'm older but for now I'm staying in Jacksonville. But Mom said that we might come back out here and visit sometime. You know what I found out today?" I asked.

"What's that?"

"Steve is my great uncle."  
"Really? I always thought you two looked alike."

"I don't see it."

"I do. You two have the same weird eye color and facial expressions. And sometimes both of you had that same bad attitude."

"And this is coming from the person who use to have the mother of all bad attitudes" I said, laughing slightly.

"Hey, I wasn't that bad."

"Ok, think what you want Dallas. Think what you want" I said.

Dallas and I continued talking for what seemed like hours on end but at some point my mom interrupted and said it was time for us to get going. I said my goodbyes to Dallas, like I had with everyone else, you know giving him all my phone numbers and stuff.

When I was about half way out the door Dallas said "they're in Bixby."

"Who? Who's in Bixby?"

"Tori and Soda . They all moved out to Bixby. Tori's house isn't hard to miss but I'll give you the location anyways." Dallas told me where to find Tori. Just as I was about to leave again, Dallas stopped me.

"When you see Soda, don't expect the same one from forty years ago. Something's happened to him."

"Ok. I'll be careful" I said, finally leaving.

"That Dallas Winston doesn't fit your description" said Mom during the car ride.

"Well, I guess being a preacher made him change his ways. He use to hate everything but now that seems to of changed. I like this new Dallas better for some reason" I said.

Mom looked at me for a minute and then said "your smiling. I haven't seen you smile this much for a long time. I think this trip was a good idea. I'm thrilled to see you happy again. It looks like the old you has come back."

During that whole car ride, mom and I talked about things that we would never talk about if we were at home. Then we sang along to the Newsies Soundtrack. Mom says I need to get all the practice I can get if I want to nail that audition for the musical next year. I was going to use the song "Santa Fe" that Jack from Newsies sings.

We arrived at the house a couple of hours after we had left the church. The house looked disserted but it looked like the house Tori had always wanted. It was a big country house that had a barn attached to it with horses running around in a corral. When we approached the barn, I could see one boy brushing a white horse and another talking to the boy that was brushing.

"Excuse me, but is there a lady named Tori here?" I asked both of the boys.

"Maybe" said the boy who was brushing.

"Well, is she here or not? I really don't have time to waist" I said, a bit annoyed.

"What's your rush, babe?" said the other boy, who put his arm around me.

"I'm Travis by the way" said the same guy.

"And I'm Tex" said the other guy.

"Kelsey. Where is Tori? I kinda need to talk to her" I said.  
"I'll take it from here guys, thanks" said a voice from behind me, "I'm Tori. I couldn't help but hear your conversation. You wanted to talk to me?"

I took a deep breathe and slowly turned around on my heal. This was it.

Once Tori saw my face, she took a step back and gasped slightly.

"I thought you died" she said.

"I went back the Jacksonville." I explained to her what I had told everyone else. After I was done we hugged each other which is weird because we never did that. Once I pulled away from her I took a good look at her and said "you look different."

"Well, for fifty-five I think I look pretty good" said Tori putting an arm around me. She was taller then me. I always knew she would catch up to me some day.

"Your fifty-five? You look younger."

"I think it's from all the horse back riding I do every day. I heard that sometimes exercise makes you look younger" said Tori, "you look the same as the last time I saw you except your wearing different clothes."

"You won't believe how much I miss those greaser clothes" I said, leaning on the fence. There was a brief silence. Tori looked down at her boots and kicked the dirt.

"Those two boys didn't give you any trouble did they?" asked Tori suddenly.

"Who? Tex and Travis?" I asked, watching the boys goof off in the distance, "no. They yours?"

"No I kinda took 'em in. You see Tex? His mom died of pneumonia when he was about three. His dad was in the rodeo for a while, leaving Tex's older brother Mason to look after him. When Mason went off to college in Indiana, I kinda took the kid in. You see, his father wasn't his real father. So the guy who he thought was his father kinda scooted outa here as fast as he could, leaving Tex here. But I look at him as a son ."

"And what about Travis?"

"He use to live in Tulsa but he got in some trouble with the law. Turns out he came home one day and his step dad was burning the story Travis had written. Travis hit him with a fire poker and he was sent to live with his uncle. But his Uncle had to move away cause he couldn't afford to keep his barn. I said that Travis could come live with us just as long as he helped out around the barn. The first day he was here, I told him to water the stalls and he put six inches of water in every stall. It took him a long time to get all the water out. You see, when I said water the stalls I meant"

"Put water in the trough" I interrupted.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I read a book once where the main character did the exact same thing" I said.

"You wanna come inside?" asked Tori. I said yes and Tori lead my mom and I inside to the kitchen.

"What have you been doing since I left?" I asked, taking a sip of my Coke that Tori had offered me.

"After you left, I stayed with the Curtis' until I graduated high school. Then I went to college at University of Florida. I was going to visit you but then I remembered that you hadn't been born yet so yeah. After college I came back to Tulsa and eventually settled down in Bixby. I got married to the most wonderful man in the world and we had five kids together. We have 2 girls and 3 boys" said Tori. Just as she finished saying that, Tex and Travis came in, holding my baby brother upside down.

"We found this little runt running around outside" said Tex, setting him down gently.  
"We figured he belonged to you" said Travis.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought my mom had him."

"It's no problem. I'm use to little kids running around here all the time" said Tori, glancing at Travis and Tex.

"Hey, we're not little kids" said Tex.

"You sure about that, Tex? You two sure act like it" said Tori, "you two finish cleaning up the barn?" When Tori asked that, the two boys ran out the door to the barn.

"Forget about having a horse to keep me busy. Those boys are doing a pretty good job of it" said Tori, letting out a long sigh, "so where are you guys staying?"

"Over at the Hilton on the west side of Tulsa" I said, bouncing the baby on my knee.

"Well, you guys can stay here tonight if you like. I'd hate to make you drive all the way back to Tulsa through the night" said Tori.

"If it's no trouble" said Mom.

"No trouble at all. We'll have to pull out some of Robbie's old clothes for this little one. He's so cute, Kelsey. He looks just like you" said Tori.

"Really? I don't think he looks a thing like me."

"Tashey?" said the baby, "I wanna go pway wid da howseys." Tashey was his way of pronouncing 'Kelsey'. Babies can never say my name right but it's so cute the way they say it.

"Can he?" I asked Tori.

"Sure, just let me get one of the boys to go with him. Tex is great with kids" said Tori. Tori took the baby by the hand and led him out to the back porch. She called for Tex and Tex came and got him and took him to go see the horses.

"Tori?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Whatever happened to Sodapop? Nobody seems to talk about him anymore" I said. Nobody, besides Dallas, had mentioned Soda when I talked to them. It was like he had died or something.

"Kelsey, there's something you should know about Soda. He's changed since you last saw him. He's not as happy as he use to be. He doesn't talk as much either" said Tori, "but if you really want to see him he's right over there." Tori pointed to an elderly man who was sitting in a rocking chair. The man was just staring out into the open field that was behind the house. I approached him slowly and sat on the porch railing that was in front of him.  
"Hey Sodapop" I said softly. He didn't say anything in return. It was like he was looking right through me.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"Fine" whispered Soda.

"That's good" I said, looking down at my feet. I was wearing my old pink high tops that day.

"I saw Steve and Dallas today" I said randomly, "they're both doin' real good, ya know? Steve owns the old DX we use to work at. And Dally's a preacher now. The whole gang has changed but I suspected Steve to own a gas station someday. So what's been going on with you?"

"Nothing" replied Soda. There was a silence between us. Sodapop Curtis had never been that quiet before, not even when he found out about Sandy.

"Something happened" I said, "something bad. Please tell me."

Soda drew in a long, quivering breathe. His focus seemed to shift slightly. Then he looked me square in the eye.

"After you left, Steve and I got drafted to go to Vietnam. I can't even begin to tell you what I saw over there. After Steve got shot they sent him home but they made me stay. Two years later I came back a changed person. I would be walking down the street and people would shout things at me like "baby killer" and stuff like that. Then I started getting phone calls every day from people I didn't even know that would start insulting me and say things like "how could you do that you" and then they'd go on to call me every name imaginable. I couldn't handle it and I knew I had hit rock bottom when I found myself in the corner of the bathroom with a gun in my hand. When Darry found me he got me some help. We found a psychiatrist who I saw for five years. When all that was over I went back to school and graduated from high school and college but as you can imagine it took me awhile. When college was over I moved out to L.A and I met some people who I thought were my friends. These "friends" took me to a bunch of clubs and stuff and sometimes they'd take me to those midnight, "X" rated movies. But I don't remember any of them because I was drunk most of the time. I got so drunk once, they had to take me to the hospital. I was kept in Detox for about six months or so." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was coming from a person who wouldn't touch a drop of alcohol even if his life depended on it.

"What else happened?"

"After Detox I stayed out in L.A. I felt so bad though because the whole reason I moved away was because Darry and I got into this huge argument. He didn't think me moving was a good idea but I did it anyways. I didn't talk to him or Pony for the whole time I was there. Then I moved back here and Tori and I hooked up. We got married a year and a half later. She saved me. She's the one who convinced me that there was nothing for me in California. She told me that if I stayed out there I would end up dead in an alley somewhere and my family would never know what happened to me. I'm sure Tori has already told you about our kids including the two that we took in. I blame myself for all of Rory's health problems. Maybe if I hadn't gotten drunk so much he would've turned out ok. Well, here I am rambling on when you haven't been able to have a word in edgewise. What's been going on with you?"

I told him about everything. About how the doctors thought everything I had gone through was a dream. About the psychiatrist. Everything. I always felt that I could tell him anything, even if it was extremely personal. When I was done, my baby brother came running up to me.

"I don't wanna pway wid howsey no more" said the kid.

"And who is this?" asked Soda.

"Actually, this is my baby brother. I had always hoped you two would meet someday. I convinced my mom to name him after you. I think someone as great as you deserves to have someone named after them. His name is Sodapop Michael Lewis."  
"I've never met another Soda before. Don't let the kids at school make fun of ya, kid. It's a good name" said Soda, taking little Soda from me. I never realized how much those two looked alike. They even had the same reckless grin.

"So where y'all headin' next?" asked Soda, bouncing the kid on his knee.  
"I dunno really. Tori invited us to stay here for the night so we don't have to be drivin' all through the night. I've seen just about everybody."

"Good. I think we better go inside. Dinner is probably ready" said Soda.

I was about to take the baby from him but he insisted on carrying him inside. Those two got along almost instantly. They went together in some sort of way.


	35. Dinner time

Chapter 33

"It smells good in here" I said, walking into the kitchen. I saw about five unfamiliar faces sitting at what I guess to be the dinning room table.

"Who are they?" I asked Soda.

"Oh those are our kids. Come on, I'll introduce them to you. Rory says he's been dieing to meet you" said Soda, leading me into the dinning room.

"Guys, I have some one I'd like you all to meet. This is Kelsey, Kelsey this is Hannah, Robbie, Ian, Lorraine, and Rory. I'm gonna go help Tori with dinner. You guys talk for a little while, get acquainted." Soda put the other Soda down and went to go help Tori in the kitchen. I stood there and looked at them, while they looked back at me.

"You can sit down if you want" said Hannah. So I sat down at the end of the table that was farthest away from them.

"Where are you from?" asked Hannah.

"Jacksonville, Florida" I said.

"Florida, huh?" said Robbie, "what are you doing here in Bixby?"

"I'm visiting Tori and Soda."

"How do you know Mom and Dad?" asked Ian.

"We're old friends I guess you could say."

"How could you possibly be old friends? You're like sixteen, and mom and dad are like, ancient" said Lorraine.

"Hey, I heard that!" shouted Soda from the kitchen. Just then Tex and Travis came running into the dinning room, taking the seats closest to me.

"Don't you two ever shower? You smell like horses" said Lorraine.

"Here's a newsflash, princess, we've been in a barn all day and a barn normally has horses in it" said Tex.

"Tex, don't be mean" warned Tori from the kitchen.

"Sorry" mumbled Tex, "so when's dinner gonna be ready?"

"In about ten minutes" said Tori.

"So, what do you guys do?" I asked no one unparticular.

At first no one said anything, but then Hannah spoke up, "I just graduated from law school. I've got my first case coming up in a few months. I'm engaged to my boyfriend of three years and his name is Chris. The wedding is in six months."

"Cool, cool. Sounds like everybody in my family. They're all either judges or lawyers" I said. It was true. My great uncle was the judge who did one of the most famous cases in Florida, the Maddie Clifton case. He sent the kid that killed her to jail for the rest of his life. And my other uncle is studying to be a lawyer and my other uncle is a judge or at least, I think he's my uncle.

"I just graduated from college" said Robbie "I wanna be a teacher."

"What kind of teacher?" I asked.

"Seventh and Eighth grade English teacher" said Robbie.  
"Cool. Me too" I said. I know it sounds kind of weird but I do want to be an English teacher, "What about you?" I pointed towards Ian.

"I'm in my third year of college. I want to be a journalist. I like to write" said Ian.

"Me too. My mom is eager for me to get one of my stories published" I said, "what about you, Lorraine? You don't look old enough to be in college just yet."

"Nope. Still in high school. 11th grade to be exact. When I graduate I wanna go FSU" said Lorraine.

"Our rival school. My whole family are huge gator fans" I said.

"I'm in 8th grade" said Rory out of the blue, "I'll be goin' to school with Lorry next fall."

"Great" I said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. Just then, mom came to join us at the dinner table.

"Dinner's ready" announced Soda from the kitchen. Dinner was anything but quiet that night. With 11 people sitting at the table, how could it be anything but noisy?

"So Kelsey" began Lorraine, "you never told us how you know mom and dad."

"I don't know. It's kinda complicated to explain. You guys wouldn't believe me even if I did tell you."

"Try us" said Tex and Travis at the same time.

"Well, it's kinda weird actually. Tori and I met in third grade and one day, when we where in high school, Tori was spending the night at my house and we decided to watch this movie. We fell asleep right in the middle of it and when we woke up we where outside of Tulsa. It turns out we were in Tulsa in 1966. We didn't really know what to do so we walked up to the gas station where your dad was working at the rest is kind of history" I said. The whole table fell quiet.

"I told y'all you wouldn't believe me" I said quietly.

"I beweive you" said little Soda. He didn't know what I was talking about but he believed every word of it. He was the only person who believed me. I was quiet the rest of the time while everyone else talked about what happened that day before I showed up. After dinner, Tori showed us to our room.

"I'm sorry they didn't believe you Kelsey" said Tori.

"It's ok. The story is kinda hard to believe" I said.

"I have something I want to show you" said Tori going to the closet. I sat down on the bed and watched as Tori pulled a big, cardboard box out of the closet. The box had my name on it in capital letters. Tori set the box down in front of me on the bed and sat down next to me.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Just open it" said Tori. I tore through all the tape. Someone got tape happy with that box cause there was about five layers of it. When I opened the box, I saw a bunch of old clothes, pictures, etc. The first thing I pulled out was an old blue hat.

"My DX hat" I said, studying the hat "I can't believe you kept it all these years. It's changed a little bit." The hat was faded now and the DX patch was falling off. The bill of the hat had lost most of the fabric around the edges and there were stains on the inside but the hat still had the smell of cherry blossom, which was the shampoo I used.

"Soda and Darry insisted that we keep this stuff" said Tori. I set the hat aside and continued to go through the box. I came across a knife that seemed to have something carved into the handle.

"D. Winston" I read aloud, "Dallas' old switchblade. I remember this. I took this the day we got jumped at the park." I bit my lip, trying not to think about it. It hurt to think about it. If we hadn't been jumped, maybe I would still be with the gang .I wouldn't be in so much pain. The words "greaser gimp" ran across my mind. I could feel hot tears forming in my face.

"It's ok" said my mom softly. I was so caught up in looking through the box, I didn't even notice that my mom and Soda (not little Soda) had come into the room. I set the knife aside hurriedly and continued going through the things in the box. I pulled out the little teddy bear Two-bit gave me.

"I remember this" I said slowly, "two-bit gave me this when I was in the hospital. He gave it to me to make me feel better." I could hear Two-Bit's voice in my head saying _'swiped ya a gift from the gift shop_.' But thinking of the hospital made me remember Tori's nightmares.

"Your nightmares?" I asked and some how she knew what I was talking about.

"They stopped a long time ago" said Tori. The memory of her waking up almost every night screaming for me was still fresh in my mind. I set the teddy bear down among the other things and searched through the box. There were a bunch of old records in there. Records that I had listened to when I was there. Now-a-days they would be worth a lot of money and very valuable to anyone who collects records.

"We use to listen to these things all the time. Music was always playing at the house" I said softly "it's kinda funny 'cause we listened to some of these songs on the plane ride here." I set the records down gently and moved on to the next object. I pulled out an old, plaid red shirt that I use to wear a lot.

"This is the shirt I wore to that party. The one where Ponyboy got drunk. It smells like grease. Grease and beer" I said.

"I've almost forgotten about that night" said Soda, "Ponyboy ran out into the middle of the street and almost got hit by a car. He thought Dallas' looked good." I couldn't help but laugh. I still found that kinda funny.

"You haven't let him live that down have you?" I asked.

"Nope" said Tori.

"We always have to remind him" said Soda.

I continued to go through the box. There wasn't much left inside. There were some odd things in there, like an old tube of hair grease that I used. Then I came across a pair of sneakers.

"My old converse" I said. The sneakers looked a lot different from what I remembered. There was a hole in the toe of one shoe and a hole in the heel of the other. The ends of the laces had come undone and they were covered in dirt. That was it. The box was empty. I had expected there to be a few more things in there but I guess they lost them over the years. I put all the things back in the box carefully and slowly.

"Would you mind if I kept this box?" I asked.

"Go ahead" said Tori, "that's why I kept all this stuff. I thought you were going to be back someday."

"Really?"

"I kinda thought dieing was your way of going back but I wasn't sure." Tori got up off the bed and left the room with Soda following behind.

"I'm getting tired, Mom. This little trip down memory lane has made me really tired" I said, yawning, "I think I'm gonna go to bed."

"Ok, sweetie, sweet dreams. I'm not ready to go to bed yet" said Mom, taking Soda out of the room. I slept in the clothes I had on. That was the best night sleep I had had in months.


	36. Could it be?

Chapter 34

I awoke the next morning to the sound of people running around outside. My mom and little brother were already up. I was about to get up myself when little Soda came running in and jumped on my bed.

"Tashey save me! They gonna git me!" said Soda, hiding behind me.

"Who's gonna get ya, buddy?"

"Twavis and Tex" said Soda. Just then, Travis and Tex appeared in the doorway.

"Y'all leave him alone" I said.

"We did. He wanted to come in here and wake you up and we were trying to stop him because there's nothing worse then a crabby 16 yr. old girl on a Saturday morning. I had to learn that the hard way" said Tex.

I said "get out" to every boy that was in the room. I jumped in the shower and put on some of my old clothes. Somehow, they didn't have that old, musty smell. They smelled like I had just worn them. Since I was starving, I ran downstairs and to the kitchen. I could smell someone cooking breakfast in the kitchen. When I walked into the kitchen, I saw my mom and Tori cooking breakfast together.

"Mornin, Kelsey. How did you……" Tori stop mid sentence, "oh my God."

"What?" I asked, sitting down at the kitchen table. Nobody had to tell me this time. Tori turned away hurriedly, but I could still hear her soft sobbing.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Those clothes" was all Tori could manage to say. I hadn't thought that it might be painful for her to see me in these clothes again. She was the one who had to deal with all the aftermath of my death but then again, the things I had been through since were equally painful. Just then Soda came into the room, dressed and ready for the day to start.

"Something smells good" said Soda, sitting across from me at the table, "I can see you've gotten into your old clothes again. The retro thing is a good look for you."

"Thanks. I was actually thinking about putting in some hair grease this morning but I thought that might be overdoing it a little" I said.

"Yeah, just a little" said Soda.

"Soda, how do you like your eggs?" asked mom.

"With grape jelly, chocolate cake, and chocolate milk or is your breakfast somewhat normal now?" I asked.

"Old habits never die" said Soda. I guess I had gotten it right. Mom just looked at me funny but went to the fridge to find the grape jelly and chocolate cake. Pretty soon, the rest of the kids joined us at the kitchen table. This breakfast reminded me of the breakfast scene in _Cheaper by the Dozen _(the new one), organized chaos. Pretty soon, it was time to leave what I'd like to call the "new" Curtis family.

"You'll come back and see us won't you? You won't let 40 years go by again will you?" asked Soda.

"Of course not. You guys are like family. I'll definitely be back before the year is over" I said.

"You know, it was hard enough to say goodbye to you the first time but I didn't think I would have to do it twice in one lifetime" said Soda.

"It's not goodbye. Not really. We'll keep in touch this time, I promise."

Soda said ok and gave me a hug.

"You come back and see us, you hear?" asked Tori.

"I will" I said, giving her a hug like I had Soda. My mom, brother, and I hopped into the car and drove off. When we got to the end of the drive way, I rolled down my window, stuck my head out, and yelled "bye!' waving frantically like Soda had done to me so many years ago, or at least for them it seemed like so many years ago. For me it seemed like just yesterday.

"You think we could come back out here sometime, Mom? Like for Christmas or something? And we could bring Dad, Stephen, and Jillian along?" I asked.

"I dunno Kelsey. We'd have to talk it over with your father. You know how he loves to spend Christmas at home" said Mom.

"We'd could ask for me. Dad can never say no to me" I said. It was true. I was my dad's weakness.

"Maybe. Let's just get through the rest of summer first" said Mom. The drive back to Tulsa was just as eventful as the drive to Bixby. We arrived back in town that afternoon and we had time to kill before dinner. We drove around a little, wondering around the streets, not really sure what we should do next. Our flight home wasn't until the next day and we didn't have to check out of the hotel until the next morning. Since Soda was starting to fall asleep, we had to go back to the hotel. Mom hired one of the baby sitters that was on the hotel staff to watch Soda for a little while. Mom decided that it might be a good idea for us to go on a little walk together.

When we were walking, we talked about everything there is to talk about. I hadn't even realized that we had drifted into the east side until I noticed my surroundings. Instead of walking along a busy street, my mom thought it best if we walked in one of the quiet neighborhoods. We were walking along and lost in conversation when I noticed that some of the houses looked familiar. I soon found myself upon the old Shepard house.

"Have you seen this house before?" asked Mom.

"Yeah. I stayed in this house for two weeks with the Shepards. Tim and Curly. I told you about them didn't I?"

"You said that you and Tori went on a date with some boys but I can't remember their names" said mom.

"Yeah, that was them. Dallas got mad at us for going on a date with those two. He thought they were nothing but trouble" I said. I didn't want to go back inside the house so my mom and I kept walking. Pretty soon, I found myself upon another familiar site. I stopped suddenly and stared at the house. It was abandoned now. Almost all the paint was gone and the shudders where hanging by their last hinges. The front yard was nothing but dirt. The chain link fence was rusted and it had weeds growing up the poles. The windows were boarded up and there was graffiti all over the boards. I struggled with the lock on the gate but somehow I managed to get it open.

The pathway that use to lead up to the porch was almost gone, along with the porch steps.

"Be careful Kelsey" warned mom, "I don't want you getting hurt." Mom helped me up the stairs to the porch. The furniture was still there but I wouldn't sit on it. It looked like it was about to collapse any second.

"What is this place?" asked Mom.

"This is the Curtis house" I explained. The door was hard to open, but with my mom's help we pried it open. Everything inside had about 15 inches of dust on it. But everything was as I remembered it.

"You stayed in this place?" asked Mom.

"It was in a lot better shape back in 1966" I said. While I was dusting off the couch a little, I found blood stains. Those stains were from the last time I had gotten hurt. I remember the first time I had gotten up off the couch and seeing blood where my knee had been. I walked around a little more till I noticed Darry's chair still sitting in the corner. I dusted the chair off a little. I thought for sure he would take that thing with him whenever he moved out but I guess not. But then I took a closer look at the newspaper that was sitting in the chair. I couldn't make out the exact date but the year was 1966. I dusted the paper off and held it up to the light so that I could see it. There was a picture of me on the front page. The headline said "Girl dies in heroic attempt to save Friend."

There was a whole article about how I had stopped Bob from shooting Dallas but ended up getting shot myself.

"Let me see that paper, Kelsey" demanded Mom. I handed the paper over to her without saying a word. She read over it quickly and then looked up at me.

"I'm proud of you" said mom.

"What are you talking about?"

"You risked your life to save that boy. It says here that Bob was sent to jail for two years" said mom.

"I wonder whatever happened to him. I'm going to keep looking around, Mom" I said.

My mom said ok while she herself started to look around. The kitchen was different. There weren't any dirty dishes in the sink and there was no chocolate cake in the icebox but I think half of me was expecting to see a cake as soon as I opened the icebox. Of course, I was wrong. I walked out of the kitchen into the hallway. The bathroom was the same. It smelt strong of cologne and grease. I walked down the hall to Darry's room. Even though I hadn't spent much time in there, it still looked the same aside from the cobwebs and dust.

There was actually an old letterman jacket sitting on the bed. It was Darry's high school football jacket. I dusted it off and put it on. The jacket nearly swallowed me up, it was so big. I took the jacket off and put it back in it's rightful place in the closet. It's funny because, the closet still had some of Darry's clothes in it.

I stepped back into the hall and walked into Soda and Pony's room. The only odd thing about the room was that the bed was made. Neither Soda nor Ponyboy ever made the bed unless Darry was standing there watching them. Then something caught my eye on Ponyboy's desk. There were papers spread all over and what looked like an English Journal. It was one of those journals that you use to write your daily journal entries in in English class. The papers and the pages in the journal were brown and turned up slightly at the edges. Since Ponyboy wasn't there to stop me, I decided to read the journal.

_November 17, 1967,_

_Question: Have you ever lost someone close to you? How did you deal with it.?_

That was bit too personal for a English Journal entry in my opinion. Anyways on with the entry.

_Have I lost someone? Well, that all depends on what you mean by the term. Physically? Yes. Mentally? Yes. I lost one of my best friends when I was 14. Her name was Kelsey. She was the best girl friend a guy could have. But she really wasn't my girlfriend, I mean we weren't going out or anything but I wish we were. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen but you can't just tell someone that. She didn't think she was beautiful but I did. She was special to me and the rest of the gang. She and Tori brought a mood to us that wasn't there before. She even got Dallas Winston to dance which is a big accomplishment for anybody. I think Dallas thought she was beautiful too and he would of married her if she hadn't left. To answer the mantel part of it, I in a way, lost myself and everyone around me. I was so unhappy about Kelsey's death that I turned to drugs and hurting myself. Not only was I hurting myself but I was pushing away those I loved. It took 2 years of therapy, seven guys, and one girl to pull me back in. I guess you could say that my response to the death was somewhat normal._

But that's just the thing. Ponyboy wasn't just some normal 14 year old kid. There was something about him that made him different from everybody else. I always thought that it was because he didn't have the same advantages other kids had but I know that's only part of it. He had something a lot of kids don't have anymore. He had a family that loved him and a family to go home to every night.

He also had this sensitive thing about him that most boys didn't have. He wasn't afraid to cry in front of other people and I respected him for that. He was an artist and he could write. I guess you could say he was a guy after my own heart but he was like my little brother. It would be weird to date someone who was like a brother to you.

"I wonder what happened here" said Mom coming up behind me.

"I don't. It looks like they just up and left" I said, taking a look around Pony and Soda's room. It looked like the same way the last time I had seen it. Except for all of the dust and cob webs that is. Tears where starting to form in my eyes but I wouldn't let them go. I was afraid that if I started crying I wouldn't be able to stop until the day I really died.

"Come on sweetie. Lets go. I think we've seen enough here" said Mom, helping up from the chair. Once I was back on the sidewalk, I took one last look at the house. So many memories, both good and bad, where in that house.

My mom and I continued to talk for a little while longer until we came across cemetery. I don't remember ever seeing the cemetery before but I decided to go in anyways. Most of the tombstones were cracked and there was moss growing over most of them which made it hard to read the name. Then, I saw 4 headstones on top of a hill, under the shade of an oak tree. Something was telling me to go up there, so I did.

The first and oldest tombstone read:

_Stephanie Samantha Randle._

_May 26, 1950 - October 9, 1964_

_Beloved Mother and Sister_

_Rest in Peace dear Stephie._

That must have been Steve's sister. My mom's mother.

"Hey Mom, come here!" I called. She ran up the hill, thinking that there might have been something wrong with me.

"What is it, honey?" asked Mom, a little out of breathe.

"That's your mom" I said pointing to the grave stone. My mom got on her knees to inspect the stone. Almost instantly she began to cry.

"It's ok, Mom" I said, trying to comfort her as much as possible. After 10 minutes or so she got herself together. I went on to look at the other two graves. The second one wasn't nearly as old as Stephanie's. It looked newer then the rest of them. It read:

_Steven Joseph Randle, Sr._

_September 11, 1925 - December 1, 1985_

_Husband and Father._

_R.I.P_

I figured there wouldn't be much on his grave when he died. Quite frankly, I'm glad he died. He abused his kids and killed his daughter. That just didn't cut it in my book. But it did make me wonder if they had a funeral for him and if they had did anyone show up? I know I wouldn't have if I had been around. I moved on to the next tombstone though something told me not to. This headstone wasn't as new as the second one but it wasn't as old as the first. It was right in the middle.

_Kelsey Lynn Lewis_

_October 10, 1966_

_Best friend anybody could ask for._

_You are my rock and my hope._

That was just creepy. I wanted to cry but I couldn't. To mourn your own death was just plain pathetic and weird. But the phrase that was on my stone made me think. I had been there to help different members of the gang through different situations. Like when Soda got the letter from Sandy or when Ponyboy got drunk or when they all went to jail. They had become closer then my real family.

The fourth and final headstone was a little hard to read. I couldn't tell how old it was but I could make out a "P" where the name should be. A very scary thought dawned on me. I hadn't seen Ponyboy yet and nobody talked about him. Could it be?


	37. Already their

Chapter 35

"I thought I might find you here" said a voice from behind me. I spun around on my heals to see a man that looked to be in his fifties.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You don't recognize me? It's me, Ponyboy. The only member of our gang that you haven't seen yet" said Pony.

"Ponyboy!" I yelled, running towards him to give him a big hug.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"I talked to Tori last night. She explained the whole thing to me. So they think your making the whole thing up, huh?"

"Well that opinion might change now" I said.

"I hope it does."

"So, what's been going on with you after I left?" I asked.

"I was hurt ya know, after you died" began Pony, "I got into all sorts of bad things. I started doing drugs when I was fifteen I think. It got so bad that Tori had to rush me to the hospital because of one really bad trips. I still have flashbacks from that trip. I had to go to the hospital because I kept trying to kill myself. I kept thinking that people where trying to eat me. That was from the trip of course. After I went to the hospital I was checked into a Rehab center in North Carolina which is where I met my first wife, Rae. She was doing some volunteer work there. When I got out we started dating and eventually got married. But we got divorced a year later. I guess the old saying is wrong, opposites don't attracted. After the divorce, I thought it might be good to start over some place far away from North Carolina so I moved to New York City and started writing articles for the _New York Times. _That's how I met my second wife, Sylvie. I was working on an article about the small town life in Cashiers, North Carolina. And she just so happened to own the most popular restaurant in town. One thing led to another and about a year later we got married and then we had three kids, not all at the same time though. After I got married I published my first book and now I'm here talking to you in this cemetery."

"I never thought I'd be back here" I said, "and I never thought I'd see my own grave."

"Neither did I. I never thought in a million years I would see you again" said Pony.

"So, what are your kids names?" I asked.

"Well, there's Isabelle, who's my oldest. Then Dashiell, who's the middle. And last but not least there's Liam" said Pony.

"Interesting names. Not really all that common" I pointed out.

"Well if you haven't noticed, my name isn't all that common. I've yet to meet another Ponyboy" said Pony.

"That's true. Who's that buried right next to me?" I asked, motioning to the grave.

"Oh, that's Paige."

"Who's Paige?"

"Paige was Soda's little girl. Remember when Sandy wrote him that letter saying that the baby wasn't his? Well, it turned out she was wrong. The baby was his. Paige died in a car accident when she was 13. She was walking across the street to a friends house and the driver was driving too fast and didn't see her. Soda loved her. But by the time he found out about her, she was already 6 years old" replied Pony.

"Oh cause for a minute there I thought….."

"You thought it was me. We've been trying to get her tombstone fixed up a little but it cost a little too much and Soda just doesn't have the money right now" said Pony.

"Soda never mentioned her" I said.

"He never talks about her anymore. It hurts him too much."

"That's understandable. Do his kids know about her?"

"I think the Hannah does but the rest of them don't and he plans to keep it that way" said Pony, looking me right in the eye.

"I wasn't going to tell them."

There was a moment of silence between us before I asked, "what's the box for?" Ponyboy had been holding a box under his arm the whole time we'd been talking.

"Oh, this is for you" he said, handing the box to me.

I opened the box to reveal my prom dress and three pictures. The dress had turned a little yellow over the years and some of the sequins had fallen off but it still looked the way I remembered it.

"You kept this after all these years?"

"Well, the rest of the gang had something to remember you by and I didn't. It's been up in my basement for years and I haven't seen since a couple of weeks after you died" said Pony.

Two of the three pictures in the box where the pictures we took the night of the prom. But then there was the other picture. It was a picture of Ponyboy and two boys I didn't recognize.

"Who are they?" I asked, showing Pony the picture.

"Oh, I don't know how that got in there. That's Mark and Bryon. Sad, sad story there" said Pony, shaking his head slightly.

"What happened?"

"Well, it started out as Mark and Bryon being best friends. They where so close they where almost like brothers. Then one day, Bryon found out that Mark was dealing drugs and he called the cops on him. They locked him up for a couple of years but then he escaped. He tried to shoot Bryon but fortunately he lived. Mark died a couple of years later. He was trying to hitch a ride and he ended up holding the driver and the passenger hostage. The driver freaked and ran the truck into a ditch. The police caught him and shot Mark. He's buried right over here if you want to see him" said Pony, leading me to Mark's grave. The grave was kinda old. It didn't have any flowers around it and it didn't have anything sentimental written on it. It just said:

_Mark Jennings._

_April 21, 1955 -1979._

_R.I.P_

"Nothing sentimental?" I asked.

"No. Mark didn't have any family really aside from Bryon and his mom" said Pony.

"That's sad" I said. Then I noticed a grave right next to Mark's. The name was very familiar to me. The grave just said

_The Motorcycle Boy_

_Idol to all hoods._

"The Motorcycle Boy" I said aloud.

"Oh yea, Rusty James' brother. I forgot he was buried here. The kids that lived around here back in the 70's use to idolize him but I didn't. I had grown out of the whole gang, fight thing by then. You might've liked him. He wasn't that bad, a little on the weird side, but not that bad" said Pony, "so, how long have you been here?"

"Couple of days."

"You think you'll be comin' back any time soon?"

"I dunno. Maybe. I hope so."

"You better. Don't let forty years pass again" said Pony. Just then, I heard a car horn blasting right behind me. I turned around to see where the sound was coming from.

"Come on Dad. We're going to be late!" yelled a girl from the car.

"My daughter" explained Pony, "I'm coming!" Pony started walking off towards the car. I stood there quietly and watched as he got farther and farther away, fading into the setting sun.

"Come on Kelsey" said Mom, "let's go home."

"I'm already there."

_I'm sad to say guys that this is the last chapter. It's been a lot of fun. Thanks to all you guys who reviewed and most of all thanks to Tori for helping me out whenever I ran out of ideas. I might do another Outsiders fic but I'm not sure. I've already gotten started on a Rumble Fish one since there aren't too many of them on here. Unfortunately though, the first chapter might not be done for a little while._


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